? LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.? 

# : t 

f [SMITHSONIAN DEPOSIT.] 

# 1 — # 

| UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.! 



MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS i 



ok, 



THE CHRISTIAN LAYMAN CONTEMPLATED AMONG 

HIS SECULAR OCCUPATIONS. 



REVISED AND MODIFIED FROM Tin-: LECTURES OF 

REV. HUGH' STO WELL, M. A., 

INCUMBENT OF C1IKIST CHURCH, 8ALFORD. 



WITH AN INTRODUCTION, 

By REV. DANIEL CURRY. 



n<jf 



PUBLISHED BY CARLTON & PHILLIPS, 

FOR THE TRACT SOCIETY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, 
200 MULBERRY-STREET. 



7 18 



1855. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, 

EY CARLTON & PHILLIPS, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District 
of New-York. 



PREFACE. 



A work of the character of that herewith submitted 
to the public has long been felt to be a desideratum 
in our religious literature. Almost every other de- 
partment of duty has been thoroughly and frequent- 
ly discussed, and the Christian's walk, in most other 
relations of life, than those of business, has often 
been held up to serious consideration. But the in- 
terested inquirer has long sought in vain for a 
treatise examining the relations of secular business 
to Christian character and influence. To meet this 
want this volume is now given to the public. 

The work was originally prepared and published 
by Rev. Hugh Stowell, of Manchester, in the form 
of lectures on the life and character of Nehemiah. 
These lectures were at first delivered from the pulpit 
by their reverend author, and afterward printed in 
their original form. But in preparing the work for 
the American public it was judged best to change 
its form from that of a series of public addresses to 
a plain and continuous treatise. In doing this, 
whatever related specially to the history of its hero 
was omitted, and many expressions modified into a 



4: PREFACE. 

conformity with the changed character of the work. 
This, however, has been done as sparingly as possi- 
ble, so that the work as now presented is really the 
same in substance that orignally came from the 
hands of the preacher. 

Some few unimportant changes and omissions 
were found necessary to adapt it to American read- 
ers. Of these the most considerable is in the twelfth 
chapter, which originally consisted for the most part 
of a plea for the national Church of England, a sub- 
ject in which the religious public of this country 
can have only a remote interest. This is, therefore, 
omitted as unsuitable, and its place supplied with 
more appropriate matter. 

The work is now sent forth in its new form, with 
the earnest and devout hope that it may prove a 
stimulus to the practical piety of many of that large 
and interesting class for whom it is especially de- 
signed. And if these shall be its results, its ulterior 
and remote consequences cannot fail to be eminently 
beneficial to the Church and the world. That such 
may be the effects has been the hope, and is still the 
prayer of The Editor. 

New-York, Dec, 1854. 



CONTENTS. 



OHAPTER PAOK 

INTRODUCTION 7 

I. THE RULING PRINCIPLE 21 

II. THE SECRET OF IIIS STRENGTH 45 

III. HIS SPIRIT OF DEVOTION 63 

IV. — RELIANCE ON GOD'S BLESSING 86 

Y. — ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GOD'S HAND 102 

YI. HIS DETERMINATION OF PURPOSE 125 

VII. UPRIGHTNESS IN DEALING 141 

VIII. FORTITUDE IN DUTY 166 

IX. JOY IN SERVING GOD 188 

X. UNWORLDLINESS OF MIND 207 

XI. — JEALOUSY FOR THE HONOR OF GOD 228 

XII. HIS ZEAL FOR THE SANCTUARY 251 

XIII. — HIS ZEAL FOR THE SABBATH 279 

XIV. — HIS HOPE WHEN HE HAD DONE ALL 307 



INTRODUCTION. 



" Ye are the salt of the earth," is the decla- 
ration of the Saviour to his people. These 
simple and brief words serve, to a very large 
degree, to define the relations of the mem- 
bers of the redeemed Church to the world 
out of which they have been called. The 
Church and the world are contradistin- 
guished. They are not the same body, nor 
is that a part or portion of this. 

"They are not of the world," is the lan- 
guage of the same blessed Saviour relative 
to the same persons. They are called to 
" come out from the world and be separate." 
But it is evident that the intended separation 
is one of spirit and character rather than of 
personal association, since he elsewhere says, 
" I pray not that thou shouldest take them 
out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep 
them from the evil." 

Such is the purpose of the great Head of 
the Church, such the mission that he has as- 



8 INTRODUCTION. 

signed to his followers on earth ; — to be in the 
world and yet not of the world, and by their 
contact with the corrupting mass of depraved 
humanity to save it from coming ruin. 

Among the practical heresies introduced 
by the great Apostacy into the outward 
Church, is that which makes the Church 
consist virtually of only the ministers of 
religion. By this the people are reduced 
to merely passive recipients of the Church's 
favor, with no duties but submission and 
obedience, and no responsibilities to their 
fellow-men for the exercise of their per- 
sonal influence. By this is the applica- 
tion of the words first quoted restricted to 
certain official characters, and the work of 
diffusing the savor of the gospel assigned 
to a class or profession, rather than devolved 
on the whole body. 

Among the happy results of the great 
Reformation is to be reckoned, as not the 
least, the restoration of the original design 
of the Saviour in this particular. As, on the 
one hand, the specially ordained ministers of 
religion are no longer looked to as possessing 
sacerdotal powers and prerogatives, so, on 
the other, the whole family of the faithful 
are recognized as "a chosen generation, a 
royal priesthood, a peculiar people." There 



INTRODUCTION. V 

is a perfect harmony among the members 
of Christ's mystical body : each has its own 
functions, and all cooperate to promote the 
glory of their common Head. The Church 
is itself a body of believers : the same spirit 
actuates each, and from each proceeds a 
portion of that genial influence by virtue 
of which the world is constantly made better. 
In dispensing the gifts of his gospel, the 
Author of grace identifies himself with the 
Father of our spirits. The provisions and 
demands of our holy religion all recognize 
man's original character — the constitution 
of his mental being. Man's individuality is 
never for a moment lost sight of. He acts 
for himself, and is individually responsible 
for his actions, and to his own Master he 
stands or falls. But without any detriment 
to his individuality, he is also recognized as 
a social being, intimately and inseparably 
united to all about him, and by virtue of 
this union he exerts a determining influence 
upon all within the sphere of his action. 
Whatever he is, he is not for himself alone, 
but for others also. His loves and hates, his 
prepossessions and aversions, — the sentiments 
of his heart, the tendencies of his desires, 
and the purposes of his will, are all felt be- 
yond himself, actuating and inclining other 



10 INTRODUCTION. 

minds in the same direction. He that is 
good, from the necessities of the case will 
do good, — will exercise a holy and sanctify- 
ing influence over those with whom he is in 
any way associated. So, also, no mask of 
sanctity that conceals the deformities of a 
corrupt heart can neutralize the tendency 
of such a one to corrupt others. "A good 
tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither 
can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit." 
The rule has no exception ; a man's influence 
among his fellows is agreeable to his real 
moral character. In this particular there 
can be no successful hypocrisy. It is not 
the design or wish of the individual that de- 
termines in this matter: though his better 
judgment may incline him to deprecate the 
influence of his own example, his character 
rather than his wishes will assuredly govern. 
]STo other consideration can so effectually 
demonstrate to every man his responsibili- 
ties as this. With what a tremendous power 
has God armed every individual ! and what 
fearful responsibilities has he devolved on 
every one, — responsibilities for others as 
well as for himself! None but a stranger to 
himself and his own relations can ask, "Am 
I my brother's keeper ?" Yerily every man 
is his brother's keeper, — made so by God 



INTRODUCTION. 11 

himself when he surrounded the individual 
with an atmosphere of secret power, and 
constituted him a magnet in the world of 
intelligence and sensibility. And in this 
way God intends that the Church shall save 
the world. The fire that Christ came to 
kindle has its focus in the regenerated 
spirit, whence it diffuses its light and warmth 
to all around. 

A converted soul, is a candle not under a 
bushel but on a candle-stick, giving light to 
all in the room. The concourse of redeemed 
souls in the congregation of the faithful in- 
tensifies this light and heat, but still its 
fountain is in the individual soul. Holy 
men constitute holy Churches, and from the 
assembly of the pious godly influences must 
go forth. The aggregate of this influence 
is made up from the contributions of each 
and all. The most obscure, as well as the 
most conspicuous, brings his part, and often 
in a degree of which he is himself the least 
aware. The clergy do not constitute the 
Church, nor is the Church's influence de- 
termined by the decrees of synods, and the 
decisions of councils ; but every man, each 
in his sphere, is an integral portion of that 
mysterious whole, having his own powers 
and responsibilities. 



12 INTRODUCTION. 

There is cause to suspect, that by neglect- 
ing to consider these things, not a few 
well-disposed persons have failed to recog- 
nize the claims that are justly laid upon 
them. Especially do laymen and devout 
persons, whose duties call them into daily 
contact with the world, fail to perceive that 
this is the mission assigned them by the 
Saviour, — that they are sent there to preach 
Christ in the silent influences of a godly 
example, and in all the varied opportunities 
of social intercourse. In no other way can 
the savor of the gospel be so thoroughly 
diffused through society. Secular engage- 
ments often bring the Christian into places 
where the professional minister of religion 
could not gain access, and opportunities of 
silent and undiscovered religious persua- 
sion are thus afforded. This is, doubtless, 
the order of Providence. Every Christian 
should bear in mind that the great business 
of his life, as a child of grace and an heir 
of salvation, is to glorify God, and to do 
good by enlarging the light and influence 
of the gospel in the world. For this pur- 
pose the Head of the Church has called 
some to the special work of the Christian 
ministry; while to others, by the same author- 
ity, is committed the less conspicuous, but 



INTRODUCTION. 13 

surely not the less honorable or important 
duty of preaching Christ among the vari- 
ous associations and relations of social life. 
Every real Christian is a promoter of Christ- 
ianity ; and it certainly is not beyond the 
bounds of a sober and rational faith to be- 
lieve that our positions in life are assigned 
us by the All-wise One with special refer- 
ence to this, our special duty. Our varied 
relations all become to us occasions of in- 
fluence over those to whom they unite us. 
There are certain influences which pertain 
specially to the relations of inferiority, — 
to poverty, subordination, and dependence; 
and hence some of God's dear children are 
placed in these relations, that through them 
they may be made a savor of life to those 
about them. Other relations bring with 
them another class of influences, and there- 
fore they too are committed to some of the 
family of the faithful, that the whole tissue 
of the social system may be subjected to 
the sanctifying influence of the gospel. 

It should, however, be remembered, that 
in this matter of personal and social influ- 
ence, though it is to a great degree spon- 
taneous and necessary, yet it is also to a 
large extent subject to our own volition and 
efforts. It is a talent committed to each 



14 INTRODUCTION. 

one to be used by the receiver to the glory 
of the Great G-iver. As taught by Christ, 
the distribution is unequal — even with a dis- 
parity as wide as the proportion of one, five, 
and ten. But it is required of a man ac- 
cording to what is given, — responsibilities 
are graduated according to opportunities. 
But the talents committed to one may be 
buried, and not used. True, as already re- 
marked, a man's influence will partake of 
the character that he possesses. But the 
degree of that influence may be greatly 
varied by causes over which he has a de- 
ciding influence. The light under a bushel 
is as truly a light as when brought out to 
act against the surrounding darkness, but 
its effects are not the same. So there is 
cause to fear there may be many muffled 
luminaries in this dark world, — much con- 
cealed light, for want of which multitudes 
continually go astray. Salt is always good, 
always tends to save ; and yet it may lie in- 
active, and ineffective of good in the midst 
of putrefaction and decay. Unless brought 
into contact with that which it is designed 
to purify and preserve, notwithstanding its 
inherent properties, it must be quite inef- 
fectual. 

The great want of the world at this time 



INTRODUCTION. 15 

is a stronger and more copious infusion of 
the spirit of Christianity into the common 
affairs of life. The elementary power by 
which the world is to be saved is already 
committed to our hands ; it needs now to be 
brought to act directly upon its objects. 
¥e do not in any sense disparage the great 
agencies by which the Church has hitherto 
operated,— the ministry, 'the Sabbath, and 
the ordinances of the sanctuary. But these, 
though the most eminent, and therefore the 
most conspicuous, are not all ; nor are they 
in some aspects of the case so great and 
effective as certain others. The work of the 
ministry occupies one of a hundred Chris- 
tians ; but the Lord has need of all in dif- 
fusing the doctrines and influences of re- 
ligion. The Sabbath occurs but once in 
seven days ; but personal intercourse among 
men is perpetually operative for good or evil. 
The ordinances of God's house are only 
occasional, and often to many inaccessible ; 
but no member of the social body lives be- 
yond the social influences which pervade 
that body. Could all real Christians be fully 
convinced that to themselves individually 
are committed the gifts of the grace of life, 
not solely as an individual endowment, but 
also and especially as a sacred deposit for 



16 INTRODUCTION. 

the benefit of others, and that the reckoning 
of the great day of accounts would refer 
especially to the use made of this sacred 
trust, we cannot doubt that there would 
result a corresponding quickening of their 
energies, alike beneficial to themselves and 
the world. Did Christians properly realize 
that they, in their several spheres, are each 
called to labor for the diffusion of the truth, 
— that to them is a dispensation of the gospel 
committed, — and that so far as they neglect 
the duty thus imposed must sin and ruin 
pervade the world, we are certain that they 
would awake and address themselves to 
their holy calling, till society in all its rami- 
fications should feel and confess the power 
of an awakened religious consciousness in 
the Church. 

Nor is the work which pertains especially 
to the laity of the Church one altogether 
obscure and unillustrious. To the Christian 
with whom his religion is manifestly the 
unselfish devotion of the soul, who gains no 
wealth by the craft, and who adheres to his 
profession of the faith quite irrespective of 
all professional influence or prejudices, — to 
such a one is given the opportunity to con- 
vince the gainsay ers, and to disarm preju- 
dices, that cannot be enjoyed by one who, 



INTRODUCTION. 17 

in the eyes of the world, seems to have less 
unselfish motives in the matter. The dis- 
advantages of the minister in this par- 
ticular are perhaps necessarily incident to 
his position. They are, however, not the 
less really disadvantages ; and the attitude 
of the Church would be much less advanta- 
geous, were it not for the example of the un- 
questionably disinterested devotion of non- 
professional piety exhibited by our laity. 
There is a power in the steady maintenance 
of Christian principle — in the earnest devo- 
tion of the life to Christian duty from the 
love of these things — which always awakens 
the admiration of the beholders. Among 
the greatest exhibitions of moral sublimity 
made by vitalized Christianity in the world, 
few can equal that of the good man occu- 
pied in his daily duties, " using the world as 
not abusing it," — in the world and yet not 
of the world, — breathing its tainted atmos- 
phere, but not corrupted by it, — walking 
among its pollutions, yet having his garment 
undefiled. Such was Enoch, who walked 
with God, and was also the father of a family, 
and occupied his place in the social body: 
such was Abraham, the friend of God, who 
was a prince among the people : such was 
David, the king of Israel, and the sweet 



18 INTRODUCTION. 

psalmist of Zion: such was Nehemiah, a 
prince and ruler, whose zeal for his God is 
recorded as an illustrious example for the 
imitation of Christian magistrates and lay- 
men generally : such was Joseph of Arima- 
thea, at once the burier of the outcast and 
crucified Saviour, and a member of the great 
council of the Jewish nation : and such was 
Cornelius, whose prayers and alms came up 
as a memorial before heaven while yet he 
was at the head of his battalion, and discharg- 
ing the duties of his position. In every age 
and place the Church has presented its 
examples of unselfish devotion, by which it 
has been made the light of the world and 
the salt of the earth. Its triumphs have 
been achieved through this agency as well 
as by that of the specially appointed dis- 
pensers of the word and doctrine of the 
gospel. These two agencies are equally of 
divine appointment; they are complement- 
ary to each other, so that in the economy of 
grace both are alike necessary to the com- 
pleteness and efficiency of the gospel. 

The times demand especially the applica- 
tion of Christian principles to mercantile 
affairs, both to fix and enforce the claims of 
mercantile morality, and to bring the claims 
of Christianity to act directly upon the con- 



INTRODUCTION. 19 

sciences of Christian merchants and men of 
business. The increased facilities for suc- 
cessful business pursuits now afforded are 
drawing increased numbers of professed 
Christians into the whirling and eddying 
tide of commerce. If by this new dangers 
are incurred by those thus occupied, there 
are also afforded new facilities for doing 
good by displaying in a new light the excel- 
lence of the gospel. As the disciples of the 
lowly Saviour are now found in the ex- 
change, in the marts of trade, and in all 
places "where merchants most do congre- 
gate," so should Christ be there glorified in 
the super-excellence of their probity, cour- 
tesy, and unsullied integrity. Nor should 
the power arising from such association be 
left wholly to its own private action. Let 
Christ be confessed in the manifestation of 
his grace in the lives of his disciples ; — let a 
godless world be taught that the rectified 
and elevated morality which is confessed and 
admired in the Christian man of business is 
the fruit of piety, and the result of the pre- 
cepts and spirit of Christianity in the hearts of 
its subjects ; — let him who has been cleansed 
not fail to return to give glory to Him who 
wrought the cure ; — let him whose eyes have 
been opened always confess the power and 



20 INTRODUCTION. 

the person of Him whose power brought to 
him such blessing ; — let the Christian every- 
where maintain his Christian profession, 
always remembering that he may not safely 
venture where his profession would be in- 
congruous to his position and occupations. 

The quickened activities of the age require 
corresponding energy and devotedness in the 
duties of Christianity. He who crowds years 
into months, and compasses in a lifetime the 
work of a generation, cannot be an inactive 
Christian. If he serve God at all, he must 
serve him earnestly, devotedly, and to 
effect. His quickened powers must be con- 
secrated to his divine Master in good works. 
The gold that perishes, the object of his 
daily thoughts and efforts, must be conse- 
crated to Christ, lest it eat out his soul, and 
reduce him to the state of an idolater. 
Engaged from day to day in gaining the 
unrighteous mammon, he must be careful to 
make for himself friends of the mammon 
of unrighteousness. 

Impressed with these convictions, we 
gladly avail ourselves of the opportunity of 
presenting to the reader the following pages, 
earnestly commending them to his prayerful 
consideration, confident that great good will 
result from their perusal. 



A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE RULING PRINCIPLE. 

The religion of the Bible is not a sickly plant, 
which requires the forcing-house to keep it 
alive : it is a hardy tree, which flourishes 
best in the open field. The servant of God 
anywhere, is the servant of G-od everywhere. 
Few notions have done more mischief than 
the imagination that godliness belongs to 
the closet and the sanctuary, the cloister and 
the cell ; that it is a thing of sabbaths and 
sacraments, of forms and creeds ; that it is 
too ethereal to be interfused into the occu- 
pations of secular life. How fond the fancy ! 
For what a man is in his counting-house or 
on the exchange, in the midst of his mer- 
cantile pursuits, that he is in the house of 
prayer, in the closet of devotion, in the sight 
of Him who will judge him at the last day. 



22 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

How unscriptural, therefore, the sentiment, 
so current in the world : " Religion is well in 
its place, but has nothing to do with the 
warehouse or the workshop, with the senate 
or the cabinet !" On the same false assump- 
tion, many men of business will affirm that 
it is impossible to carry out the principles 
of the gospel in the details of commercial 
life. They look upon religion as a garment 
which may be put on and off as occasion re- 
quires, not as the divine weft on which the 
whole warp of character is to be woven. 

To refute such fallacies, and dispel such 
illusions, there is no more effectual means 
than the holy example of God's favored ser- 
vants, as given to us in the sacred pages. 
That example shows what can be done, and 
at the same time points out the way in which 
it may be accomplished. It teaches while 
it stimulates, and while it encourages it di- 
rects. Example, too, that it may be effective 
must be pertinent, — it must come home to 
the consciences and the circumstances of 
those w T hom it is to influence. For this rea- 
son the examples which the Holy Scriptures 
exhibit are peculiarly appropriate, and by 
their variety they afford lessons of instruc- 
tion and encouragement to men in all the 
varied circumstances of life. Especially 



THE RULING PRINCIPLE. 23 

do those simple but striking biographical 
sketches teach us the social and private vir- 
tues of those eminent servants of God. 

Though Enoch "walked with God," and 
would seem to have had his conversation in 
heaven while he yet remained on earth, 
yet is he named among the fathers of the 
people, and presented to our contemplation 
as a man who performed his part in the du- 
ties of life. 

Noah, the preacher of righteousness, was 
at once a man of his times and a man of 
God. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Abim- 
elech and Melchizedek, were not the less 
eminent in their piety because they were 
men of large business relations. Joseph's 
piety was as thorough and as fervent when 
" the Lord had made him ruler over all Egypt," 
as when he abode in his father's tent, or 
served as a slave or a prisoner. In the his- 
tory of Moses, of David, of Elisha, and of 
Daniel, we see exhibitions of the power of 
true godliness to flourish alike in private 
and in public life. But perhaps the most 
pertinent, though somewhat less celebrated, 
example for the man of business, is afforded 
in the case of Nehemiah, the son of Hacha- 
liah, one of the children of the captivity in 
Babylon. In his early life elevated by the 



24 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

providence of God to an office of high trust 
and distinction in the service of the king of 
Assyria, being appointed his cup-bearer, and 
thus surrounded by the seductions, and in 
contact with the defilements, of an idolatrous 
court; afterward led of God to repair to 
Jerusalem, for the purpose of rousing and 
succoring the remnant of his people to re- 
store the desolated walls of the holy city ; 
subsequently occupied in governing and es- 
tablishing those whom he had rallied and 
organized; at one time harassed by insidi- 
ous and insulting foes, at another embar- 
rassed by the misconduct of his own sub- 
jects; now redressing grievances, now rec- 
tifying abuses — through all, and in all, he 
still demeaned himself as became a child of 
the Most High, and "served his own gene- 
ration according to the will of God." Bear- 
ing adversity with fortitude, and prosperity 
with soberness, he manifested how a man 
may embellish with the beauty of holiness 
every situation in life, and pass through the 
vicissitudes of his career so as to be true to 
his principles and faithful in his stewardship 
Motives make the man. What the main, 
spring is to a piece of mechanism, that the 
master principle is to the life. What you 
are in your heart toward God, that you are 



THE RULING PRINCIPLE. 25 

in your character toward man, as estimated 
by Him with whom we have to do. If the 
eye be single, the whole body will be full 
of light ; but if the eye be evil, the whole 
body will be full of darkness. The vital 
question in character, therefore, is, What is 
the inner man? If that be wrong, it viti- 
ates the whole ; if that be right, God will 
have respect unto his servant, even though 
there should be much of error in judgment, 
and of infirmity in conduct. The intention 
is the action, the principle, the practice, in 
the eyes of Him who " desireth truth in the 
inward parts." 

It is not sufficient, therefore, that the out- 
ward actions should be such as one may 
commend : the motive that dictates the 
action must be right and pure, and duly 
elevated. In the review of life, the servant 
of God will ever find that the portions of 
his career upon which he looks with the 
greatest satisfaction are just those in which 
he was actuated by a pious reference to the 
will of God in all that he did. The action 
itself does not sufficiently determine this ; the 
motive alone fixes their moral character, 
and that motive must be " the fear of the 
Lord." He indeed might say that he acted 
thus because of the promptings of generos- 



26 A MODEL FOK MEN OF BUSINESS. 

ity ; or because of a high sense of honor ; 
or because of the patriotism which fired his 
breast ; or because of the compassion which 
melted his heart." But had any one of these 
been the commanding motive of his be- 
havior, though his actions would have 
been the same, their moral quality would 
have been utterly changed. They would at 
once have been lowered into mere manifes- 
tations of natural virtue — flowers of the 
desert instead of flowers of Paradise — wild 
olive-berries, fair to the sight but sour to 
the taste, instead of fruits of grace from the 
tree of life. A pious deference to the fear 
of God alone gave the character of godli- 
ness to his conduct j this transmuted what 
would have been no better than fair tinsel 
into the fine gold of the sanctuary. The 
flesh can exhibit the former, the Spirit alone 
can create the latter. 

The fear of God in the Old Testament is 
equivalent to the love of God in the New. 
There is, indeed, little distinction between 
the expressions ; yet if the general use of 
the former under the old, and of the latter 
under the new dispensation, has any special 
significance, it indicates the severe aspect of 
the one economy as compared with the 
more gracious aspect of the other. The 



THE .RULING PRINCIPLE. 27 

saint of the Old Testament had more of awe, 
the saint of the New Testament has more 
of confidence, in the service of God. This 
confidence, however, is chastened by rever- 
ence ; while that awe was softened by affec- 
tion. The one, no less than the other, is 
the gift of grace. Both are the fruit of 
promise. "I will put my fear into their 
hearts, that they shall not depart from 
me," is the tenor of the ancient covenant. 
Utterly apart is this fear from that servile 
dread which sometimes scares and goads the 
wicked, or that terror, ending in despair, 
which worketh death. It is a filial fear, 
springing out of attachment, not aversion ; 
a fear which has in it the comfort of the 
Holy Ghost ; a fear which grows out of faith, 
justifying faith, in Christ Jesus ; a fear ever 
accompanied with a secret satisfaction, an 
ennobling sense of liberty ; a fear which dis- 
enthrals the mind from the bondage of other 
masters, by making it true to the one sole 
Master whose service is perfect freedom. 
"What viewed in one light is love, viewed in 
another is godly fear. Love constrains — fear 
restrains. They are but different aspects of 
the same principle. If there be genuine 
love of God, there cannot fail to be a holy 
fear of offending him. This fear of the Lord 



28 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

is therefore "the beginning of wisdom," the 
guardian of holiness, the seal of adoption. 

Would that the power of this principle 
pervaded the mercantile world ! How 
mighty would be its working ! How much 
is it needed ! Examine the morals of that 
world in the light of Scripture ; and, even 
in our own distinguished land, they will 
be found fearfully faulty. True, there is 
much that is honorable and of good report 
among our merchant princes; true, our 
country contrasts favorably in its commer- 
cial character with other lands, and marvel- 
ous is the amount of property consigned 
to our gigantic traffickers, simply on the 
strength of their honor and integrity ; yet, 
if you penetrate into the recesses of com- 
merce, you frequently detect a low and 
shifting standard of equity — you discover 
that a thousand practices are connived at, 
and pass current in business, w^hich, when 
weighed in the balances of the sanctuary, 
are found utterly wanting. 

Taking the morality of the commercial 
world at the highest, how much of it is 
genuine? What amount of fear of God 
enters into its composition? If men are 
upright in their dealings merely because 
they have a selfish conviction that honesty 



THE RULING PRINCIPLE. 29 

is the best policy, and that fairness will 
answer better than fraud; or if they act 
justly simply from a sense of honor, from 
a pride which raises them above being 
guilty of a low and disgraceful transaction ; 
or if, to ascend higher in the scale of unre- 
newed virtue, they do right because they 
instinctively recoil from all that is base and 
equivocal, from whatever would degrade 
and disturb their mind ; then all their im- 
posing array of mercantile virtues, however 
lovely in the eyes of men, who can look 
only at the outward appearance, however 
meriting the meed of human admiration and 
praise, are, after all, of the earth, earthy, hol- 
low at the core, unprofitable in the sight of 
God. The stamp of such coin is the stamp 
of the world ; the stamp on the coin which 
will be current in heaven, is the image and 
superscription of the King of kings. How- 
ever, therefore, our merchants may plume 
themselves on their mercantile character, 
their punctuality in their promises, and 
their exactitude in their engagements ; yet 
if, in all this, they are only offering sacrifice 
to self as their idol ; if their highest aim is 
to maintain their own unblemished reputa- 
tion, or their own uncompromised self-re- 
spect; and if, in all, they have no eye to 



30 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

the record on high, to their Master in 
heaven, then it must be said of them, in 
the face of all their excellence, and notwith- 
standing their name and fame among their 
fellows, that they have their reward ; that in 
the sight of God they are no better than 
painted sepulchers, or trees whose fruits, 
while fair to look upon, only need to be 
grasped, in order that, like the fabled apples 
of Sodom, they may be crushed to ashes. 
Of their virtues, as of the offerings of Israel 
in ancient times, God may indignantly ask, 
"Did ye them at all unto me, even unto 
me?" - 

Tried by this touchstone, the morality of 
many who stand highest in the commercial 
world would prove but shining dross ; and 
if they are buoying themselves up with 
the notion that what man has approved 
God will not condemn, how frightful the 
disappointment, how crushing the confu- 
sion, which must await them in the day 
" when the secrets of all hearts shall be 
revealed!" Yet "why, even of themselves, 
do they not judge that which is right?" for 
they cannot deny that what is not done unto 
God must be done unto some other master ; 
and that such other master must be an idol 
and usurper, because he occupies the tern- 



THE RULING PRINCIPLE. 31 

pie and the throne of their Creator and Re- 
deemer. What, then, are their secular vir- 
tues but splendid idolatries, specious acts of 
disloyalty to God ? Do not these very men 
condemn themselves ? Do they not betray 
the partiality and earthliness of their mo- 
rality? For while they are so scrupulous 
about defrauding men, how unscrupulously 
will they rob God — rob him of the devotions 
of the closet, rob him of the services of the 
Sabbath, rob him of the ordinances of the 
sanctuary, rob him of the homage of the 
heart? They "render to Caesar the things 
that are Caesar's," while they withhold from 
"God the things that are God's." Their 
very religion is human. "Their fear toward 
God is taught by the precept of man." 
They try to keep the commandments of the 
second table of the law, so far as the letter 
goes; but neither in the letter nor in the 
spirit do they attempt to keep the command- 
ments of the first. Thus, by their conduct, 
they show that they look upon the duties 
which relate directly to God as far less bind- 
ing than those which relate more immedi- 
ately to man ; and that they conceive that, 
while they would incur heavy blame by vio- 
lating the former, they may with impunity 
set the latter at naught. Can such ungodly 



32 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

morality be mistaken for holiness? Can it be 
imagined that faithfulness toward man will 
be accepted as a substitute for loyalty toward 
God ? Is it to be endured that men should 
recognize the claims of justice, of gratitude, 
and of fidelity toward their fellows, yet 
turn a deaf ear and a faithless heart toward 
the claims of their Creator, Preserver, Re- 
deemer, and Judge? The very fact that they 
thus acknowledge human ties, while they 
disregard those which are divine, serves to 
make their guilt the more palpable, if it will 
not serve to enhance their condemnation. 
How much, therefore, is it to be feared, that 
many who stand high in credit and confi- 
dence here, will hereafter be overwhelmed 
with shame when they see the books opened, 
and find when too late that they are bank- 
rupt for eternity ! What will they answer 
when God rises to judgment — what will they 
say when He shall arraign them ! 

As it is the fear of God alone which can 
impart to mercantile morality intrinsic 
worth, so it is that principle only that can 
insure to it strength, stability, and univer- 
sality. Even the virtuous qualities which 
exalt a man in the commercial world, must 
lack reality and consistency when they rest 
on a lower ground. Hence, it is no uncom- 



THE RULING PRINCIPLE. 33 

mon thing to find a man who was at one 
period distinguished for his honor and in- 
tegrity, at another period of his life making 
utter shipwreck of character. While his 
bark glided along in smooth water, and 
his sails were filled with prosperous gales, he 
steered an undeviating course ; but when 
storms arose, and surges swelled, and his 
vessel drifted amid quicksands and shal- 
lows, he soon abandoned the compass of 
honesty, and yielded himself to the force of 
the current. Men are astonished at the 
change. There is little need for astonish- 
ment. His rectitude was the creature of 
circumstance ; sustained by success, with 
success it fell. In truth, the man is not 
greatly altered ; his altered condition has 
called out what was latent in his breast. 
Fragile at best are the virtues which spring 
from the unregenerated heart. 

Whatever the moral excellences which 
adorned a man before the fear of God was 
implanted in his breast, that fear will give 
them a reality and a worth which nothing 
else can give them. What was done at 
random, from mere impulse or to serve some 
temporary purpose, will then be done from 
principle, on system, and with the noblest 

end in view. Whatsoever things he did 
3 



34 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

aforetime that were lovely and of good report, 
will not only be still done 5 but done far more 
effectually than before, because they will be 
done from his heart ; his outward conduct 
will be the reflection of his inward nature. 
But, above all, the matchless energy of this 
principle will exert a strength and univer- 
sality of influence which nothing else can 
command. God being everywhere, the man 
who fears him will fear him everywhere. 
"With holy awe he will exclaim, " O Lord, 
thou hast searched me and known me. Thou 
knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising, 
thou understandest my thought afar off. 
Thou compassest my path and my lying 
down, and art acquainted with all my ways. 
For there is not a word in my tongue, but 
lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether." Can 
he then forget, that there is an Eye which 
always discerns every feeling as well as every 
act, and an Ear w r hich ever hearkens to the 
unspoken thought ? Such faith will constrain 
him to "be in the fear of the Lord all the 
day long ;" and so, whether he eats or drinks, 
or whatsoever he does, to do all to the glory 
of God. Indeed it is impossible to delineate 
fully the breadth and expansiveness of this 
principle of action. It will go with a man into 
the little as well as into the great, into the 



THE RULING PRINCIPLE. 35 

hidden as well as into the open ; it will tell 
upon him, with equal force, whether others 
dissent from or concur in his course of 
conduct ; whether he swim with the stream 
or breast the current. It will elevate him to 
freedom and independence of character as 
simple as it is sublime ; he will no longer re- 
semble the sun-dial, useless save in the light ; 
he will be like the time-piece, which keeps 
the tenor of its way alike in the shade as in 
the sunshine. How calmly can he look down 
upon the trifles which toss to and fro, agitate 
or transport, the vassals of the world, — the 
" men of the world, who have their portion 
in this world," who are carried about by its 
currents, as straws are whirled in the eddies 
of the stream down which they are borne ! 
It is not so with him who is actuated by the 
fear of God. His helm is ever set for one 
point, his prow ever turned toward the 
haven of salvation. Instead of many masters, 
one is his master. Instead of many desires, 
one is his aim. He may fluctuate through 
infirmity ; sinister influences may for a season 
distract him; but the ruling principle will 
still abide. So the needle, shaken by the 
vibrations of the vessel, may oscillate for a 
time ; yet, true to its magnetic property, will 
it still tremblingly turn to the pole. The 



36 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

saint, like the sunflower, owns the center of 
attraction, when clouded as well as when 
clear. 

How salutary and how separative the re- 
straining power of this principle ! How will 
it keep a man undefiled amid the defilements 
of public life, like the pure stream that is 
said to pass through the salt lake, and yet 
retain its freshness! Young men, just 
launching forth into the perils of the mer- 
cantile world, here is your safeguard. You 
will find much in the tone, the spirit, and 
the practices of business which will at first 
startle and distress you; you will shrink 
from many of the expedients, manceuvers, 
and subterfuges of trade. But there will be 
great danger lest you should become famil- 
iarized with such things — lest they should 
benumb the tenderness of your conscience, 
and lower your standard of moral judgment. 
You will be tempted to think that you must 
do as others do or you cannot succeed ; that 
to be a clever man of business you must not 
be too nice and scrupulous ; and that, if you 
only fall in with the usages of the establish- 
ment in which you are employed, the re- 
sponsibility rests with the principal rather 
than with the servant. You will be tempted 
to argue. If my employer bid, or at least 



THE RULING PRINCIPLE. 37 

prompt me to misrepresent and equivocate 
in his service — if he wish me to beat down 
the seller and overcharge the buyer — to take 
advantage of the weak and the poor because 
of his strength and capital, and of their 
poverty and weakness — must I not obey 
him ? Will the fault be mine — must I not 
succumb to his authority ? No, young man, 
you have a master in heaven ; " let Him be 
your fear, and let Him be your dread !" 
" How can I do this great wickedness, and 
sin against God?" exclaimed the Hebrew 
youth of old, when sin, clothed in the specious 
guise of authority, would have seduced him. 
Be your watchword the same. Fear, that 
you may not fear. Fear God that you may 
not fear man. Be it your resolve — whatever 
doubtful things others may do, even some 
who stand high on 'Change, yea even some 
who pass for professors of godliness — "yet 
•so will not I do, because of the fear of God." 
]STo human name can endorse what God has 
dishonored — no human authority make that 
right which he has pronounced to be wrong. 
" What saith the Lord?"— not "What saith 
the world ?" is the decisive question. 

Mark the efficacy of the same principle in 
fortifying against temptation in another form. 
There are few things about which a com- 



38 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

mercial man is so sensitive as his reputa- 
tion for tact and sagacity ; but he will find 
that to take advantage of others, if only it 
be done cleverly and without detection, is 
deemed by many a mark of skill and shrewd- 
ness. To the life did the Holy Ghost por- 
tray the spirit of the present day, when he 
thus portrayed the spirit of ancient times — 
" It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer : 
but when he is gone his "way, then he boast- 
eth." How often do our buyers strive to 
cheapen the articles for which they treat 
beyond what they know to be fair, and, 
when they have succeeded, they straightway 
congratulate themselves, and boast of their 
superior business talent ! Nor will the world 
disallow their boasting. They will probably 
win a name for dexterity and cleverness in 
trade ; their services will command a high 
price in the market ; and, as for their integ- 
rity, it will be esteemed as of secondary 
importance to their talent. They can get 
on ; they can make a good bargain — that is 
the cardinal point. Here, therefore, is an 
ordeal for a godly tradesman. To be reputed 
soft and behind the age, because he dare not 
overreach his neighbor, will tend to stagger 
his pride and test his principle. He must 
endure to be accounted a fool, and to be 



THE RULING PRINCIPLE. 39 

pitied as too scrupulous for success. He 
must esteem the reproach of Christ greater 
riches than the treasures of earth. When 
he sees competitors prospering by doubtful 
expedients, or hears them glorying in their 
equivocal gains, his reflection and his joy 
will be — " So did not I, because of the fear 
of God." 

As from the unrighteous expedients, so 
from the unhallowed indulgences of the child 
of this world will the fear of God restrain 
the child of light. He will not ask what is 
pleasant, what is customary, what is fashion- 
able — but what is right. He is constrained 
to come out from the course of this world, 
and to be separate, that he may not touch the 
unclean thing. His ambition is to be one of 
the " peculiar people," who are "zealous of 
good works." Peculiarity is essential to 
Christianity ; not an affected peculiarity, 
not the visor which designing men put on 
for the purpose of deceiving — but that hon- 
est, artless peculiarity, which springs from 
fearing God rather than man. Alas ! that 
this should he peculiar, even in the so-called 
Christian world. 

Therefore, O men of God, " if sinners en- 
tice you, consent ye not." "Choose rather 
to suffer affliction with the people of God, 



40 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a sea- 
son." You may be branded as unsocial, 
puritanical, precise ; but in reply to all such 
charges, suffice it for you to answer, "So 
dare not, and so do not I, because of the 
fear of God." 

]STo less cogent will be the influence of 
this motive in guarding you against desecra- 
tion or profanation of the ordinances of the 
day of God. "Worldly people think that if 
they frequent the sanctuary in the morning, 
the rest of the Sabbath may be spent in 
sloth, recreation, or business. The newspa- 
per or the ledger, the feast or the excursion, 
occupies the principal portion of the day. 
Yea, and the very courts of the Lord's house 
are defiled by their buying and selling, in 
thought and desire ; for their heart goeth 
after their covetousness, while their knees 
are bent in w T orship. Here, again, Divine 
fear will be to you as a wall of fire, to 
set you apart from the course of this world ; 
you will abide faithful amid the faithless, 
scrupulous amid the licentious, devout amid 
the irreverent — " because of the fear of 
God." 

Glorious liberty of the sons of God ! Free 
to do everything but sin, they are therefore 
free indeed ! Bound by one silken tie, they 



THE RULING PRINCIPLE. 4:1 

are disencumbered from a thousand chains. 
He is the freeman, who is free to serve God. 
He is the slave, who is not at liberty to 
serve Him whose service is perfect freedom. 
There is a yoke in that service, but it is easy 
— a burden, but it is light. " His command- 
ments are not grievous ; his ways are ways 
of pleasantness." He is a master full of 
grace, full of pity, full of tenderness. He 
never forsakes those who fear him. " He 
pitieth them as a father pitieth his children." 
" He spareth them as a man spareth his own 
son that serveth him." He will give them 
the first-fruits of heaven. " The secret of 
the Lord is with them that fear him." 
" Walking in the fear of God, they walk in 
the comfort of the Holy Ghost." Their fear 
hath no torment, and their submission no 
servility. 

Such and so excellent is the master prin- 
ciple which controls and actuates the servant 
of God. We shall trace its mighty working 
again and again, as we proceed with the 
illustration of his character. In the career 
of the faithful, it is seen now emboldening 
him for conflict ; now stimulating him to 
duty ; now restraining him from temptation ; 
now upholding him under difficulties ; now 
humbling him to the dust ; now lifting him 



42 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

above " the fear of man, which bringeth a 
snare." 

Let every one, therefore, as he values his 
Christian integrity and consistency of char- 
acter, examine his own heart, and see if this 
sovereign motive is reigning there. Too 
many will find it hard to discover what 
holds the supremacy within them. So mani- 
fold, capricious, and conflicting are the im- 
pulses which sway them, that they resemble 
the reed shaken with the wind, or the sea- 
weed torn from the rock and tossed to and 
fro on the weltering waves of the ocean. 
One thing, at least, is clear, that if there be 
any ruling sentiment in their souls, it is not 
the fear of God. What, then, is the worth 
of their Christianity ? Of what avail is their 
creed or their profession? What part or lot 
can they have in Christ? "Little children, 
let no man deceive you; he that doeth 
righteousness is righteous, even as He is 
righteous." Whoever would be justified 
through His blood, must be governedby His 
fear. Let none say, " The standard set be- 
fore us is too high for us ; we cannot attain 
to it ; — to carry out the fear of God into all 
the ramifications of commercial life is simply 
impossible." "With man it is impossible, 
but not with God ; for with God all things 



THE RULING PRINCIPLE. 43 

are possible." "If, therefore, thou canst 
believe, all things are possible to him that 
believeth." Let the question be propounded 
to the holiest and most consistent merchant 
in your city, What is the secret of his excel- 
lence? and he will answer, "By the grace 
of God, I am what I am." The same grace 
is sufficient for all. And let all who name 
the name of Christ, see to it that they de- 
part from iniquity; that they give no oc- 
casion to the men of the world to say, 
"These godly men pray in the closet, bow 
down in the sanctuary, shine in the saintly 
circle; but they can cheat, deceive, and 
overreach like other men, when they come 
down into the secularities of earth." Woe 
to the man by whom such an offense cometh. 
He is a practical libel on Christianity ; his 
profession is a snare, and his confidence like 
the spider's web. 

But blessed are they who " adorn the doc- 
trine of God their Saviour in all things;" 
" who are in the fear of the Lord all the day 
long." They are "epistles of Christ, known 
and read of all men." Those who have to 
do with them, take knowledge of them that 
they have been with Jesus. "Fear not, 
little flock, for it is your Father's good pleas- 
ure to give you the kingdom." 



4:4 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

His holy fear ruling in the hearts, and 
embodying itself in the lives of his faithful 
ones, will ever prove itself sufficient to carry 
them through all temptations, and keep 
them blameless amid all corruptions, till they 
reach the happy land where perils, adversi- 
ties, and perplexity will be no more, and 
where the fear of God will be swallowed up 
in the fullness of his love. 



THE SECRET OF HIS STRENGTH. 4:5 



CHAPTEE II. 

THE SECRET OF HIS STRENGTH. 

It is not life that we see in the living ; it is 
the manifestation of life. Hidden in its es- 
sence, it is apparent in its effects. The soul 
can reveal its powers in a look, in a word, 
in an action ; but the soul itself eludes dis- 
covery. Even lower life lies concealed. The 
life of the tree discloses itself in the tender 
bud, in the fair blossom, in the ripe fruit ; 
but who can detect the secret spring of all ? 
If it be thus with natural life, much more 
must mystery envelop the life of God in the 
souls of his saints. The Holy Ghost thus de- 
scribes that life : " Ye are dead, and your life 
is hid with Christ in God." Evident in result, 
fruitful in blessing, effectual in operation, it 
yet is a mystery which the world cannot 
conceive, and which the believer himself 
cannot comprehend. "The wind bloweth 
where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound 
thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, 
and whither it goeth : so is every one that 
is born of the Spirit," — and so is every one 
that lives in the Spirit. The action is hu- 



46 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

man, but the energy is divine. No mecha- 
nism, however perfect, can dispense with a 
motive power ; it is needed both to put it 
into action, and to keep it in play after it 
has been put in motion. So with the graces 
and faculties of the inner man, the "hidden 
man of the heart; 5 ' they have neither origi- 
nated nor quickened themselves, neither can 
they act of their own innate energy. The 
excellency of the power is of Christ, and in 
Christ. "Without me," saith he, "ye can 
do nothing." The history of the believer's 
spiritual life is, " I live, yet not I, but Christ 
liveth in me ; and the life I now live in the 
flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, 
who loved me, and gave himself for me." 
Even the master motive is not the spring of 
action ; it is the effect of that spring. Just 
as it is with the mighty wheel which moves 
the whole machinery of the factory, it ap- 
pears as though the impulse it imparts were 
all its own; but in reality there is a latent 
power by which that wheel itself is moved, 
and without which it cannot act. 

In the preceding chapter we considered 
the master principle in the life of faith ; we 
traced its potency ; how it restrains from 
sin, how it constrains to holiness, how it ele- 
vates a man above the fear of his fellows, 



THE SECRET OF HIS STRENGTH. 4:7 

and gives him an ennobling liberty ; how it 
brings " every imagination of the thoughts 
of his heart into captivity to the obedience 
of Christ." But this principle is not self- 
acting; as it did not create, so it does not 
sustain itself. While in one view the saint 
is an agent, in another he is a subject; he 
only wills and does as God works in him to 
will and do, of his good pleasure. We now 
propose to explore the fountain and secret 
place of that power by which he is enabled 
to overcome the world. 

Human power depends largely on human 
confidence. The man possessed of a certain 
iron inflexibility of purpose, based on a 
proud self-reliance, is the man who ordina- 
rily accomplishes great things in the affairs 
of earth. Marvelous is the mastery of such 
a will over weaker and inferior wills ; so 
that for a man whose highest aim is present 
success, there cannot be a better rule than, 
"Rely upon yourself, have confidence in 
your own judgment, never despair of your 
own efforts." God often allows men of this 
character to succeed. They have their re- 
ward. In self they have confided, and to 
self they give the praise. But the very con- 
verse holds in relation to the strength of 
those who live not to themselves but to the 



48 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

Lord ; who live not the life of sense but the 
life of faith. Just in proportion as they dis- 
trust themselves, abandon self, and abide in 
Christ, just in such proportion will his 
strength be made perfect in their weakness, 
and will they "be more than conquerors 
through him that loved them." The curse 
of man is, that he makes flesh his arm, that 
he has lost his trust in the living God. How 
intense this idolatrous tendency, this suicidal 
fatuity in the heart of man ! So intense, 
that men naturally confide in anything or 
everything rather than in Him in whom they 
"live, and move, and have their being." A 
virtual atheism is practically the state of all 
who have not been born again of the Spirit. 
"God is not in all their thoughts;" they 
plan without consulting him, labor without 
leaning upon him, prosper without acknowl- 
edging him. Man must be brought off from 
this self-dependence before he can be brought 
into that dependence on God which is the 
law of his nature, and the condition of his 
perfection. By trusting to the creature, he 
fell from his Creator ; by renouncing faith 
in the creature he returns to his Creator. 
To reduce hirn to despair of his own power, 
is a task so difficult that God alone can 
bring it to pass. Men will more easily ad- 



THE SECRET OF HIS STRENGTH. 49 

mit that they have done wrong, that they 
are guilty before God, than that they cannot 
return of themselves to the Lord, that they 
have no power of themselves to help them- 
selves. This is an admission which their 
pride cannot brook. So prevalent, indeed, 
is the notion of self-sufficiency, that most 
men intend to turn to God and prepare for 
eternity at some future period. It never 
occurs to them to iftisgive their ability to do 
so whenever they shall please. Strange that 
they should be deaf alike to the testimony 
of Scripture and to the lessons of experience 
on the subject of man'«s spiritual impotency ! 
Hearken to the voice of the lively oracles. 
"Without me," says Christ, "ye can do 
nothing." "We are not sufficient of our- 
selves," says St. Paul, "to think anything 
as of ourselves." " I know that in me, that 
is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing." 
"When we were without strength, in due 
time Christ died for the ungodly." And 
clear as is the witness of Scripture on this 
point, no less clear is the confession of every 
orthodox branch of the Christian Church. 

"The condition of man since the fall of 
Adam is such, that he cannot turn and pre- 
pare himself, by his own natural strength 
and good works, to faith and calling upon 
4 



50 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

God. Wherefore we have no power to do 
good works, pleasant and acceptable unto 
God, without the grace of God by Christ 
preventing us, that we may have a good 
will, and working with us when we have 
that good will." The work of Christ for us 
was not more indispensable to our salvation 
than is the work of Christ in us. If we are 
justified wholly by his merit, we are sancti- 
fied absolutely by his grace. 

The evidence of experience fully sustains 
the testimony of Scripture. Let any man 
set about becoming what he feels he ought 
to be ; let him strive to be perfectly upright 
in all his thoughts and intentions, perfectly 
accurate in all his words, perfectly kind and 
charitable in all his feelings, perfectly sub- 
missive and devout in all his sentiments to- 
ward God. Let him make a conscience of 
everything within him as well as without 
him — of the issues of his heart, no less than 
of the streams of his life ; let him struggle 
to make himself love God with all his heart, 
soul, and strength, and to love his neighboi 
as himself; let him do all this with ever sc 
much honesty of purpose and determination 
of spirit, and what will be the inevitable 
result? He will discover more and more 
painfully the depth of his impoteixcy, and 



THE SECRET OF HIS STRENGTH. 51 

the abortiveness of his efforts. Nay, more, 
he will find that his inherent corruptions 
gather intensity from the very resistance 
which he opposes to them, as the current 
chafes against the barrier which interrupts 
but cannot check its course. 

A man may, indeed, by his own power, 
greatly control his external conduct ; he may 
cease to be a drunkard, or he may abstain 
from impure indulgences ; but without Christ 
he can do nothing in the spiritual life ; he 
cannot give birth to a holy desire, or a good 
counsel, or a just work. Mere morality, 
what is visible to man, can grow on the 
stem of nature ; but "the fruits of righteous- 
ness, which are by Jesus Christ to the praise 
and glory of God," these can be borne only 
by the tree of grace. 

Hence it happens that you will frequently 
find a man gifted with uncommon resolution 
in the things of this life, who is yet like a 
straw tossed in the eddies of a stream in re- 
lation to the things of God. In the world, 
a rock ; in the Church, " a wave of the sea 
driven of the wind, and tossed." What en- 
ergy in natural things will the same individ- 
ual sometimes display, who in spiritual 
things is the slave of passion and the sport 
of caprice — led captive at his will by " the 



52 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

Prince of the power of the air, the spirit 
that now worketh in the children of disobe- 
dience!" How mournfully manifest, then, 
that a moral paralysis has passed upon the 
spiritual powers of man! How essential 
that a living consciousness of this fact should 
accompany the soldier of the cross through- 
out his holy warfare ! If he lives in the 
Spirit, he must also walk in the Spirit. 
"While in the wilderness, he must still be a 
pilgrim of faith, a tottering child held up by 
an Almighty hand. The abiding sense of 
his weakness will keep him hanging upon 
Christ. " When I am weak," said one who 
had made the highest attainments in the di- 
vine life, — "when lam weak,"- — in the deep 
experimental consciousness of my own weak- 
ness, — "then am I strong; strong in the 
Lord, and in the power of his might." 
What a paradox ! What a beautiful paradox ! 
To the Christian how clear, to the unbeliever 
how strange ! What a precious peculiarity 
of the glorious gospel of the blessed God ! 
It makes known to man his real state — a dis- 
closure exceedingly startling, distasteful, hu- 
miliating to him ; but it does not stop there. 
If it reveals to us our guilt, it is that it may 
reveal to us our righteousness ; if it discovers 
to us our disease, it is that it may discover 



THE SECRET OF HIS STRENGTH. 53 

to us our remedy ; if it convinces us of our 
impotency, it is that it may lead us to our 
strength. Here is the crowning glory of 
Christianity. Philosophy knew nothing of 
these heavenly secrets. She could exhibit 
our desolation ; and bitter, often, and un- 
sparing were her strictures on the foibles and 
the follies, the miseries and the incongrui- 
ties of human nature ; but while she could 
expose the malady, she could not make 
known the remedy. She could laugh at our 
helplessness, but she could tell us of no suc- 
cor. She could paint the beauty of virtue, 
but she could not enable us to attain it. She 
could supply the lovely model, but it only 
served to mock our attempts to copy its per- 
fections. She dealt with us as Pharaoh 
dealt with the children of Israel ; he bade 
them make bricks, but he gave them no 
straw. So philosophy bade man fear God, 
be devout, upright, benevolent, truthful, 
rise to the dignity of his nature, and seek 
his heritage above ; but she spake to a par- 
alytic which could not move — to a corpse 
which could not hear. 

Christ commands the palsied to arise and 
walk, but he, at the same time, imparts the 
power to obey the command ; he calls upon 
the man with the withered hand to stretch it 



54 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

forth, and, in making the effort, the man is 
healed. The word of Christ gives us the 
fullest assurance that his aid shall not be 
wanting to the faithful. It calls him by the 
glorious name, "The Strength of Israel." 
It declares, that "surely shall one say, In the 
Lord have I strength." It affirms, that "the 
Lord will give strength to his people." 
Therefore shall each one of them resolve — 
" I will go in the strength of the Lord God, 
and will make mention of thy righteousness, 
even of thine only." Absolute dependence 
on the grace of God for justification, must 
be accompanied with no less absolute de- 
pendence on the strength of God for sancti- 
fication. " Whatsoever we do in word or 
deed, we must do all in the name of the 
Lord Jesus." Fellowship with him is the 
life of our life. It pleases God that we 
should be continually reminded of our union 
with his Son. He would not have us forget 
him for a single hour. He therefore gives 
us spiritual strength as he gives us natural 
life, day by day, and hour by hour. He 
gives us no stock in hand. He does not 
lodge it in ourselves ; he retains it in him- 
self, for us. He lives and walks " in us, that 
we may live and walk through him." He 
works in us to will and to do of his good 



THE SECRET OF HIS STRENGTH. 55 

pleasure. He does not will and do for us, 
nor does he act on us as on passive subjects; 
but he works in us as rational and responsi- 
ble agents. We will and do ; but it is be- 
cause he works in us to will and to do. In 
one view all is his work, in another all is 
ours; his through us, and ours by him. 
So that, when we have done all, our language 
must be that of the apostle, " By grace I am 
what I am." "I labored more abundantly 
than they all ; yet not I, but the grace of 
God that was with me." In the least as well 
as in the greatest, in the secular as well as 
in the spiritual concerns of the faithful, it is 
not less their duty than it is their privilege 
to strengthen themselves in the Lord. He 
loves that they should have recourse to him. 
They cannot urge a more prevailing plea 
than that which the king of Israel used 
when confronting an overwhelming army: 
" Help us, O Lord our God, for we trust in 
thee !" To such an argument he cannot 
turn a deaf ear. " According to thy faith 
be it unto thee." " If thou canst believe, all 
things are possible to him that believeth," 
will infallibly be the answer. How true, 
then, and touching as true, the picture 
drawn of himself as a pilgrim of faith, by 
the sweet singer of Israel : "My soul hang- 



56 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

eth upon thee ; thy right hand upholdeth 
me !" The figure he employs, brings before 
ns the endearing sight of a father with his 
little faltering child. The father is leading 
the child along a dark and rugged way ; the 
child clings fondly to the father's hand, 
urged alike by the consciousness of its own 
feebleness, and by its confidence in him. 
And that very weakness so felt, and that 
very confidence so reposed, prove with the 
father, though a silent, a most pathetic plea. 
How can he refuse the gentle grasp of the 
tiny hand which is locked in his .? Its weak- 
ness is irresistible. Even so it is with the 
child of God. His Father holds his hand, 
and he in consequence holds his Father's 
hand. The firmer he is held, the more will 
he cling ; and that very clinging constrains 
the Almighty. Omnipotent in everything 
else, he is, so to speak, impotent here ; he 
cannot resist the clinging confidingness of a 
helpless soul. The great point is to carry 
this dependence everywhere, and into every 
thing; into commerce as well as communion, 
into the counting-house as well as the closet. 
How difficult, yet how vital a lesson for the 
servant of God to learn ! We must not only 
ask strength from on high, but we must use 
the strength for which we ask. This must 



THE SECKET OF HIS STRENGTH. 57 

be done by the immediate exercise of faith 
even while we are busied in the unbe- 
lieving world, while we are mingling of 
necessity in scenes of sore temptation. Then, 
when most in danger, we stand most in need 
of succor; when most surrounded by our 
enemies, we most require the outstretched 
arm of God. Our very foes should be our 
sentinels, and warn us to fly for refuge to 
the help, as well as the hope, set before us 
in Christ. As we ought to be " in the fear 
of God," so ought we to be in the strength 
of God, " all the day long." The former is 
effectual only as it is accompanied by the 
latter. What is done in our own strength is 
of the flesh, and what is of the flesh cannot 
please God. How often does it happen that 
Christian men are led astray, embarrassed 
by temptation, entangled in false positions, 
betrayed into giving occasion to the adver- 
sary to rail, and to the weak to stumble, 
because they set about things in their own 
name, in their own wisdom, in their own 
might ! Had they set the Lord before them, 
they would not have been moved ; had they 
honored him, he would have honored them. 

The secret of the good man's strength lies 
in the fact that in the face of taunting foes, 
in emergencies however sudden, in perplex- 



58 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

ities however harassing, he turns for succor 
to his God. Like the mystic locks of Sam- 
son, this is the symbol of his power ; shorn 
of it, he is weaker than the bulrush in the 
gale. But why is it that even Christians 
are sometimes so appalled by the sneers of 
the ungodly, so warped by the maxims of a 
world lying in wickedness, so seduced into 
petty compliances with some of the doubtful 
■usages of trade ? Is it not because they fail 
to realize the presence of God, to call in the 
aid of Omnipotence, to set their backs 
against the Eock of ages? Would they but 
do this, the fear of man would vanish before 
the fear of God ; then the inquiry in each 
case would be, first of all, not what is gain- 
ful, but what is godly ; then they would feel 
themselves to be invincible, for the conflict 
would no longer be theirs but the Lord's; 
and his controversy must be triumphant. 
No duty is too light to require the aid of 
grace for its performance, nor any too 
arduous to be practicable through grace. 
" Even the youths shall faint and be weary, 
and the young men shall utterly fail: but 
they that wait upon the Lord shall renew 
their strength ; they shall mount up with 
wings as eagles ; they shall run, and not be 
weary ; they shall walk, and uot f&int." " I 



THE SECRET OF HIS STRENGTH. 59 

can do all things," said the noblest soldier 
of the cross, " I can do all things through 
Christ that strengtheneth me." " I can do 
all things " — strange language from the lips 
of a worm of the dust — " through Christ 
that strengtheneth me," — the paradox is 
solved ; how seemly, how grateful the words 
from the tongue of a lowly believer ! Left 
to himself, " the grasshopper is a burden" to 
him ; Omnipotence aiding him, he can 
" thresh the mountains." 

]STor does this derivation of power seem 
strange; nor yet does it, in any bad sense, 
make the saint of God a merely passive instru- 
ment. The whole universe is in some sense 
a machine ; there is no power but of God. 
We talk of the laws of nature, of the forces 
which keep planets revolving in their spheres; 
but, after all, how are those laws maintain- 
ed ? how are those forces actuated ? It is God 
that " worketh all in all." " He upholdeth 
all things by the word of his power." In 
him all being centers. From the worm that 
crawls the dust, up to Gabriel, the highest 
archangel before the throne of God, none 
has independent life, independent strength, 
independent holiness, or independent happi- 
ness. All is in God — as all is from God. 
Why, then, should it be thought a thing 



60 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

incredible, that "man that is born of a wo- 
man" — man, who is shorn through his fall of 
all primitive purity and all spiritual power, 
should be utterly dependent from first to 
last, for the highest life, the life of the Spirit, 
on the Spirit of " the living God." And is 
it not meet and right that he should ever 
realize his dependency, and be taught to 
wait perpetually on the fountain of life ? 
At this point we would earnestly say to the 
Christian reader — Suffer the word of admo- 
nition. Beware of self-confidence : " He 
that trusteth his own heart is a fool." God 
resisteth such a one : " The rich he send- 
eth empty away." In vain are virtues, pur- 
poses, or efforts while self is their staple. 
Till that idol is abandoned, not a heaven- 
ward step is taken. If the ship, however 
rigged, equipped, and manned, cannot move 
across the w T aters of herself, but must have 
the winds to waft her, how much less can 
the shattered bark of the human soul win its 
way through the tempestuous ocean of life 
to the haven of salvation, except it be borne 
along by the breath of the Spirit ! But the 
sails must be spread to invite and catch the 
heavenly gale. 

Let the Christian, then, ever remember, 
that whatever is not done of the ability which 



THE SECRET OF HIS STRENGTH. 61 

God giveth, is unprofitable and sinful. This 
great truth ought to be realized in secular 
business as well as in religious services ; grace 
is needed to traffic aright no less than to 
pray aright. At the same time let him see 
to it that the grace afforded be both occupied 
and confessed to the praise and glory of 
His grace. Neither should he, for a mo- 
ment, forget that no work of his can be 
acceptable to God, but as presented by Him 
who is the propitiation for our sins, whose 
blood must sanctify, and whose merits must 
perfume, all our services. 

Let, then, the soldiers of the cross encour- 
age themselves in the Lord, and despair of 
no attainment, stagger at no duty, shrink 
from no danger, to which the Lord calls 
them. When he assigns a task, by that very 
assignment he pledges himself to give the 
power to perform it. "Fear not, only be- 
lieve." "If thou canst believe, all things 
are possible to him that believeth." Yea ; 
and what a blessed thing it is that we are 
privileged to live this dependent life ! If 
our strength were in ourselves, we might 
lose it ; but in Christ Jesus it is safe. Our 
security is in his immutability. We are 
" kept by the power of God, through faith, 
unto salvation." He hath said, "I will 



62 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

never leave thee nor forsake thee ;" so that 
we may boldly say, "The Lord is my 
helper, and I will not fear what man shall 
do unto me." Nay, verily, for he hath said 
again, " My sheep hear my voice, and I 
know them ; and I give unto them eternal 
life; and they shall never perish, neither 
shall any pluck them out of my hand. My 
Father, which gave them me, is greater than 
all; and none is able to pluck them out of 
my Father's hand." 



HIS SPIRIT OF DEVOTION. 63 



CHAPTER III. 

HIS SPIRIT OF DEVOTION. 

The fire on the altar of burnt-sacrifice in the 
Jewish temple was kindled from heaven. 
God gave commandment concerning that 
fire, that it should always be burning — it 
should never go out. The appointed Levites 
fed and tended it by night and by day. The 
sacrifices were not always offering up, but 
the fire was always in readiness to offer 
them. How apt an emblem of what the 
renewed heart should be ! The fire of its 
devotion was lighted from on high ; it was 
enkindled by the Spirit of God. That holy 
fire ought to be burning ; it ought never to 
go out. The sacrifices of prayer and praise 
cannot be always ascending ; but the flame 
of devotion to kindle them, as opportunity 
may serve, ought never to wax dim. 

Of all the habits of the new man, there is 
none more distinctive, none more condu- 
cive to his soul's health and happiness, 
none more essential to his consistency of 
conduct and beauty of holiness, than this de- 
votional spirit. It has always distinguished 



64 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

those who have excelled in virtue ; it is the 
distinctive trait of the truly good man, the 
character we would now portray. We have, 
in the foregoing chapters, examined the 
mainspring of his holy life — the fear of 
God, and traced the secret of his spiritual 
strength — the strength of God made per- 
fect in his weakness. We are now to ex- 
plore the channel through which the spirit 
of Jesus is infused into his soul. That chan- 
nel is unceasing prayer. Throughout his 
checkered career, not only on stated occa- 
sions and in hallowed scenes, but everywhere, 
and under all circumstances, whether in the 
midst of foes or in the seclusion of the closet, 
harassed by occupations or under the excite- 
ment of dangers, you find him still true to 
the mercy-seat, still lifting up his heart to 
God. "Think upon me, O my God, for 
good ;" " O God, strengthen my hands ;" 
"Think upon me, and have mercy upon me, 
according to the multitude of thy mercies." 
Such are the devout breathings which again 
and again break forth from his heart. 

We propose, therefore, as the subject of 
this chapter, to consider the exercise of 
ejaculatory prayer — the habit of lifting up 
the heart in brief aspirations to God in all 
places and under all circumstances ; — thus 



HIS SPIRIT OF DEVOTION. 65 

hallowing the commonest pursuits of life, 
and turning the warehouse or the work-shop 
into a house of prayer. God grant to us the 
spirit of grace and supplication while we 
dwell on this vital theme ! 

Few have any just conception of the 
essence of prayer. Yery many, when they 
think of praying, think of it as necessarily 
involving a formal kneeling down in the 
closet or the sanctuary, and a presenting our 
petitions in a set manner to God. This, no 
doubt, when spiritual, is preeminently pray- 
er ; but if a man never prays anywhere 
save in the closet, the family, or the temple, 
there is every reason to fear that he never 
prays at all. For, if he prayed truly in 
these consecrated spots, he could not repress 
the silent aspiration that would sometimes 
gush from his heart in the market-place, in 
the counting-house, in the social circle, as 
he sat in his house, and as he walked by the 
way. If the spirit of genuine devotion ani- 
mated his stated worship, it could not be 
inert all the day besides. The sad formality 
which man has superinduced on the religion 
of Christ, has tended to foster many unscrip- 
tural notions on the subject of devotion. 
Hence it is that multitudes have thought 
that they must come out of the world in 
5 



66 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

order to hold communion with God — hence 
they have sought the cell in the wilderness 
or the gloom of the cloister, that they might 
spend their days and nights in converse with 
Heaven. But, counteracting God's purpose, 
they have generally failed of their object, 
and it is no breach of charity to say that, for 
the most part, while they left the world the 
world did not leave them ; and that, in 
many instances, the monastery and the nun- 
nery, instead of being houses of prayer, 
were dens of thieves. The religion of Jesus 
is far too practical to abstract us from the 
duties of our stations, or from the relation- 
ships of social life. Instead of interfering 
with them, it secures that they shall be 
effectually performed ; it cheers, sustains, 
and sanctifies us in their performance. It 
converts the toils, the cares, the ills of ordi- 
nary life into a heavenly discipline ; bracing 
our principles by bringing them into conflict 
— strengthening our devotion by calling it 
into exercise. The devout spirit, like the 
well-strung JEolian harp, not only gives forth 
sweet sounds when woke by the gentler 
breathings that steal over its chords, but 
when vibrating under the ruder blasts that 
sweep across its strings. We could not have 
the rule of life more beautifully expressed 



HIS SPIRIT OF DEVOTION. 67 

than it is in the language of the apostle: 
"£Tot slothful in business, fervent in spirit, 
serving the Lord." Let us see to it, that 
this fervency of spirit pervade our secular 
occupations, and our business will invigorate 
our devotion, while our devotion will hal- 
low our business. To be slothful in business 
will quench devotion as fatally as to pursue 
business with inordinate affection. The 
hardiest devotion is the healthiest. The 
devotion of the cloister is for the most part 
like the ghastly light that hovers over de- 
composition and decay ; the devotion which 
characterizes the diligent, spiritually-mind- 
ed man of business, resembles the star 
which shines on in the storm as in the calm 
— when the sky is clouded as when it is 
serene. 

It is, then, utterly a mistake to suppose, 
that except a man bend the knee and use the 
language of supplication, he cannot pray to 
God. How beautiful and appropriate is the 
language of the Christian poet, in which he 
celebrates the power of prayer, and it is 
scriptural as it is lovely !— 

" Prayer is the soul's sincere desire, 

Utter'd or unexpress'd ; 
The motion of a hidden fire 

That trembles in the breast. 



68 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

" Prayer is the burden of a sigh, — 

The falling of a tear, — 
The upward glancing of an eye, 

When none but God is near." 

The sigh of the penitent is prayer in God's 
ear ; the desire of the sorrowful is heard by 
the Omniscient. Language is necessary to 
communicate our sentiments and feelings to 
our fellows ; not so to convey them to him 
who knows our thoughts long before we 
conceive them — " who know T eth what is the 
mind of the Spirit, because he maketh in- 
tercession for the saints, according to the 
will of God." Be assured of it, there may 
be no praying where there are long prayers 
— there may be much prayer where not a 
w r ord is spoken. There are groanings unut- 
terable which the Spirit excites in the heart 
of the believer that prevail mightily with 
God ; while the long-spun address of the 
Pharisee standing in the synagogue, or at 
the corners of the street, is loathsome to 
Him who requireth truth in the inward 
parts. The more steadily the spirit of pray- 
er burns in any soul, the more surely does 
it prove that soul to be alive to God. For 
prayer is to spiritual, what respiration is to 
natural life. When we cease to breathe, 
we cease to live ; when we cease to pray, 
we die in the sight of God. If our breathing 



II IS SPIRIT OF DEVOTION. 69 

be stopped for a little while, what an agony- 
will ensue till we recover its play ! So with 
the inner man. Let the exercise of prayer 
be for a season suspended in the devout 
heart, and there will be an agonizing strug- 
gle till communion with God is renewed. 
" While I kept silence my bones waxed old, 
through my roaring all the day long," said 
the Psalmist, when reviewing the dark 
period in which he had restrained prayer 
before God. 

Where ought we not to pray ! The ear 
of God is never shut — the mercy-seat is 
never remote. It is as near in the ware- 
house as in the chamber ; as accessible in 
the market-place as in the sanctuary. The 
arrow from the bow of faith pierces heaven 
in the twinkling of an eye ; nor through the 
Mediator does the faintest ejaculation fail of 
a reply. The prayer of faith never fell to 
the ground. In the disclosures of eternity 
it will be found that not a believing desire 
was ever unfulfilled. Its fulfillment cannot 
always be discerned at present ; but it is not 
therefore less sure or less real. 

Ah ! who can represent in adequate terms 
the importance and the privilege of thus 
perpetually calling upon God? When can 
it be out of season — where can it be out of 



70 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

place ? If a man can find the scene where 
he needs not serve God, then he will have 
found the scene where he needs not pray to 
God. But wherever a man is bound to do 
the will, there is he called upon to ask the 
aid, -of the Master whom he serves. "We 
cannot carry this principle too far : in spirit 
we ought to live upon our knees. If in any 
step we need not divine guidance, if in any 
work we need not divine strength, if in any 
enterprise we need not the divine blessing, 
then in projecting that step, in prosecuting 
that work, in undertaking that enterprise, 
we need not pray. But if Christ is all and 
in all, then always and in all must we call 
upon his name. On how many occasions 
does a servant of God suddenly require 
special assistance, special counsel, special 
care ! What urgent emergencies will unex- 
pectedly arise ! How frequently are men of 
business called upon to decide summarily 
on questions big with importance, to make 
up their judgment at once on measures the 
issues of which they can neither over-esti- 
mate nor foresee. At such critical junctures 
ought they not to consult Him who knows 
the end from the beginning, whose counsel, 
it shall stand ; who has said, " in all thy 
ways acknowledge me, and I will direct thy 



HIS SPIRIT OF DEVOTION. 71 

paths?" Yet they cannot enter into their 
closet ; opportunity for this does not serve. 
What then ? Can they not with all the speed 
of thought refer the case to God— call in his 
wisdom to be made perfect in their foolish- 
ness ? How it assures the understanding — 
how it abates the crushing weight of un- 
shared responsibility, so to take counsel with 
the Omniscient! 

Take a specific illustration. How com- 
monly is the physician forced to form his 
conclusion in a moment ; yea, to form it on 
uncertain grounds and indeterminate symp- 
toms? Yet a mistaken conclusion may en- 
danger the life of his patient. Now if, in 
such circumstances, the medical man rely 
simply on his own skill, and confer with his 
own judgment, to the neglect of calling in 
the wisdom and blessing of the Almighty, 
what a fearful risk and burden does he bring 
upon himself! But let his heart breathe 
forth the aspiration to God, "Lord, direct 
me : Lord, I commit this case to thee : pros- 
per me according to thy mercy !" Then, 
having cast his burden on the Lord, having 
invoked unerring skill, he will be able to 
act with faith and calmness. Is this fanati- 
cism ? The grossest fanaticism is that which 
leaves out God. If he be anywhere, he is 



72 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

everywhere ; if he be in anything, he is in 
everything. If he order the seraph's flight, 
he ordains the sparrow's fall ; if he telleth 
the number of the stars, he nnmbereth the 
very hairs of the heads of his saints. The 
minuteness of Providence is the perfection 
of Providence ; and minute as is his provi- 
dence, so minute, if possible, should be our 
prayers ; the only limit of our supplications 
should be the limit of his gracious interposi- 
tions. Since he is above all, and through 
all, and in all, let us look to him for all, let 
us look to him in all. 

The unforeseen vicissitudes to which we 
are exposed, should keep us ever on the wing 
of prayer. How suddenly do perils, changes, 
and perplexities spring up ! What can we 
do, then, but watch and pray? We cannot 
watch as we ought without praying; we 
cannot pray as we ought without watching. 
Watch in all things, and you will pray in 
all things. This reasoning gathers addition- 
al strength from the fact that the opportuni- 
ties for stated prayer which many persons 
enjoy are few and straitened. Artisans 
who toil late and early, young men who al- 
most live behind the desk or the counter, 
servants who are occupied from dawn till 
night in their domestic duties, can seldom, 



HIS SPIRIT OF DEVOTION. 73 

secure seasons for retirement dur- 
ing the pressure of their daily tasks. Some 
time may, indeed, be redeemed from the pil- 
low to be consecrated to God by his people ; 
but are they to have no further intercourse 
with him throughout the day ? That must 
not, need not be. While the hand is toil- 
ing for the bread that perisheth, the soul 
may be holding converse with the Father 
of our spirits. However the mind may be 
exercised in business, there may be paren- 
theses of prayer, and interjections of praise, 
checkering and elevating our occupations 
all the while. Never let the busied servant, 
never let the harassed tradesman say, "I 
have no time for converse with my God." 
Only take heed that your hearts be not ab- 
sorbed by your worldly conduct, and you 
will find many a fleeting opportunity for in- 
tercourse with Him who is about your path, 
and hearkens to your slightest thought. 

The snares and foes which beset a career 
of business, ought to turn one's eyes contin- 
ually to " the stronghold whereunto you may 
always resort." In the vicissitudes of com- 
mercial affairs, in the complicated transac- 
tions with his fellows, how subtly will 
temptation often steal upon one ; sometimes 
in the shape of a friend, who comes to draw 



74 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

him into some doubtful speculation; some- 
times in the shape of an alluring offer of 
gain at the cost of some small sacrifice of 
conscience ; at another time in the form of 
seductive openings, fitted to beguile him into 
adventuring beyond what his resources war- 
rant; in these and a thousand other dis- 
guises will Satan lie in wait to deceive. 
Meantime, in concert with the world and 
with the wicked one, will man's own false, 
foolish heart strive hard to deceive, and de- 
ceiving, to betray him. We know not 
where the trap is laid ; we know not whence 
the shaft may be aimed. Where, then, is 
our safety ? where, but in flying at the mo- 
ment for refuge to our God? Were we 
alive as we ought to be to the perils that 
surround us in our pilgrimage through life, 
we should never presume to lose sight of the 
mercy-seat. Travelers make mention of a 
bird so timid in disposition, and so liable to 
the assaults of unnumbered enemies, that 
she almost lives in the sky, scarcely ever 
venturing to rest her wings; and even when 
forced through very weariness to repose, she 
seeks the loftiest rock, and there still keeps 
her eyes only half shut, and her pinions only 
half folded — in readiness on the first sign 
of danger to spread her wings and soar away 



HIS SPIRIT OF DEVOTION. 75 

to the heavens for safety. "What an apt 
emblem of how the child jof God should 
"pass the time of his sojourning here!" 
Seldom should the wing of his devotion 
droop, or the eye of his watchfulness close ; 
and when he must repose, it should ever be 
in an attitude of vigilance and prayerfulness, 
prepared at the first signal of approaching 
danger to mount upward, and find his re- 
fuge in the bosom of his God. 

Say not that devotion will be out of 
harmony with some of the scenes in which 
men of business mingle. Wherever duty 
calls, devotion may accompany them. 
Where a man would shrink from praying, 
he ought to shrink from going. Tell me the 
circle or the recreation where the Christian 
cannot consistently lift up his heart to God, 
where it would seem a kind of solemn 
mockery to ask for his presence and blessing, 
and I will tell you the circle or the recrea- 
tion where, as a Christian, he should not be. 
If it is not a place meet for prayer, it is not 
a place meet for him. No engagement in 
which he fears to ask the Lord to bless him 
can be right. Take, as a sure test of the 
character of any plan, pleasure, or pursuit, 
the simple question, " Can I implore the di- 
vine blessing upon it ?" If not, then let it 



76 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

be foregone. You cannot enter upon it 
without guilt. . For " whatsoever is not of 
faith is sin," and whatsoever cannot be sanc- 
tified by prayer, is not of faith, and conse- 
quently must be sinful in the sight of God. 
This is a practical rule of much value. 
Young men should carry it with them into 
the midst of their avocations, their relaxa- 
tions, their companionships ; let them apply 
it honestly, and it will serve them faithfully. 
Yery elevating and hallowing is the in- 
fluence which a pervading habit of prayer 
will exert on the mind of a man, however 
he may be immersed in business. It will 
keep him from being secularized by his oc- 
cupations; it will save him from the debase- 
ment of pursuing mere money-making as his 
end, of expending the energies of the im- 
mortal spirit on the accumulation of shining 
dust ; it will keep him above the world, 
while occupied in the world / it will enable 
him to look upon it clearly, undazzled by its 
meteors, and unbewildered by its mists. 
Like the noble bird that, strong in wing, 
towers far above the clouds, mounts into the 
clear blue sky, hovers amid the undimmed 
beams of the sun, and thence surveys the 
landscape spread below him ; the loftier his 
flight, the smaller appear the objects he has 



HIS SPIRIT OF DEVOTION. 77 

left behind: so to those who in frequent 
communion with God by faith mount up on 
wdngs like an eagle — to them the things of 
earth look very small — the things of heaven 
incomparably great. 

This is the secret for keeping the world in 
its proper place. So kept, it will not be- 
come our master — it will be our servant; and 
it is a good servant, but a miserable master. 
Need it be added, that a devotional spirit 
will greatly tend to keep the temper unruf- 
fled, and the mind serene? Too frequently, 
even the sincere servants of God reflect little 
of the meekness and lowliness of Christ amid 
the excitements of business ; men cannot 
"take knowledge of them that they have been 
with Jesus." They betray an eagerness for 
gain, a keenness in driving a bargain, an irri- 
tability of feeling, an inordinacy of desire, a 
want of kindliness, generosity, and forbear- 
ance toward others, an absence of sympathy 
toward their dependents, and of considera- 
tion toward their equals, which mars the 
harmony of their character, neutralizes their 
influence for good, and brings reproach on 
the holy name which they bear. And all 
this occurs because they do not set the Lord 
always before them. And this ' perpetual 
recognition of God is to be secured only by 



78 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

calling upon him in everything. Let the 
Christian who is of a peevish and excita- 
ble temper, instead of justifying himself by 
pleading that " it is natural " to him, learn a 
lesson from that heathen philosopher of whom 
we read, that being subject to paroxysms of 
anger, he resolved to overcome the fault, 
and in order to do so made it a rule, when- 
ever he felt the first risings of wrath, to 
repeat to himself some lines from Homer 
which are of a very soothing and subduing 
kind ; and such was the effect, that ulti- 
mately he became as noted for his gentleness 
as he had before been for his irritability. 
Will not this heathen rise up in judgment 
against many a Christian who ought to 
know and follow a more excellent way? 
Ought not he, when passion or perturbation 
shake his breast, to lift up his heart to Him 
who said to the winds and waves of the sea 
of Galilee, " Peace, be still, and there was 
a great calm ;" and who is no less able and 
ready to rebuke the swelling surges of the 
soul, and hush them into peace? 

There is nothing a believer may not mas- 
ter if he encounter as well as defy it in the 
name of Jesus, and in the power of prayer. 
However he may pray against his besetting 
sin in the closet, if he forget God in the 



HIS SPIRIT OF DEVOTION. 79 

moment of assault, there is little reason to 
hope that he will prevail. He must meet 
his enemy on his knees that he may con- 
quer. Equally benign is the influence of 
incessant prayer in keeping the mind from 
being fevered by the excitements or fretted 
by the anxieties of business. It will oil the 
wheels and abate the friction of mercantile 
life. It is not so much the physical toil or 
the mental strain which a man undergoes 
in the struggle of the world, that wears out 
his health and exhausts his energies, as it 
is the worry and vexation, the anxiety and 
suspense, which naturally befall him in his 
harassing career ; these are the things which 
waste his spirits, consume his energies, and 
precipitate his death. How, then, are these 
effects to be averted ? How, but by " cast- 
ing all your care on Him who careth for 
you," " and in everything by prayer and 
supplication, with thanksgiving, letting your 
requests be made known unto God ? " This 
is the antidote to the fret and fever which 
consume so many of the eager traffickers 
of our day. The breath of devotion will 
diffuse a dewy freshness and calm over the 
spirit even amid the heat and dust of the 
harassing world. 

Nor ought we to fail to notice how be- 



80 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

nignly the habit of ejaculatory devotion 
will tell on our seasons of stated commun- 
ion. It will effectually subserve the con- 
verse of the closet, and the worship of the 
sanctuary. Many can witness, that when 
they enter the chamber or the temple, they 
find it hard indeed to rally and concentrate 
their thoughts, which are scattered amid 
worldly plans and wandering after gains. 
Complaints of distractions in prayer are con- 
stant, and bitter as constant. But why is 
it thus? Because the instrument, once un- 
strung, is long before it can be tuned anew. 
Let it be kept in tune all the day long, and 
the time now lost in tuning it would be spent 
in sweeping sweet music from its strings. 
If men allow their business throughout the 
day to chain their thoughts to earth, their 
closet at eventide will hardly raise their 
spirits to the skies. 

He who does not take a prayerful spirit 
into his house of merchandise, runs a great 
risk of taking his business into the house of 
prayer. He cannot spread his table for traffic 
or for money-changing in the holy place ; yet 
in the sight of God, he may desecrate it as 
really as those who of old were driven from 
the temple by Him who said, " The zeal of 
thine house hath eaten me up." The way, 



HIS SPIRIT OF DEVOTION. 81 

therefore, to have our heart in harmony 
with the worship of the sanctuary and the 
communion of the closet, is never to suffer its 
chords to be jarred. It was said of a dis- 
tinguished Christian of other days, that lie 
lived on the steps of the mercy-seat. It is 
the testimony borne to an eminent Chris- 
tian of the present age that " he lives upon 
his knees." This is to live safely — this is to 
live in heaven. Hence it was said by a dy- 
ing saint, "I am changing my place, but not 
my company." Like Enoch, he had walk- 
ed with God, and death to him was but ris- 
ing from the foot -stool to the throne; or 
like going out of the porch into the inner 
sanctuary. 

Is there not cause to fear many professed 
Christians have never thought on this wise 
of prayer ? It may be, that from childhood 
they have repeated some form of devotion, 
more or less statedly ; sometimes perhaps in- 
termitted, and afterward resumed ; but has 
it not been a body unquickened by a soul? 
Had it been living, it would have been 
breathing; and had it been breathing, the 
breath of life would have given it quickened 
activity. Let it sink deep into our hearts ; 
for it is a true saying, if we confine our 
prayers to our chambers, there is reason to 



82 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

fear that we never pray at all. For were 
the flame of devotion kindled in the closet, 
it could not be suppressed throughout the 
occupations of the day ; the rather, as we 
need the protection far more in the midst of 
the world, than we need it in the hour of 
retirement. It is not on parade, while going 
through his exercises in peace, but when 
called into the struggles of the battle-field, 
that the soldier needs all his courage and his 
skill. And so with the soldier of the cross : 
it is when forced to grapple with the tempta- 
tions, the difficulties, and the perils of an 
evil world, that he most needs to pray, and 
to watch unto prayer. Should this test con- 
vince my reader that he has never prayed 
in truth, let him now cry out as the apos- 
tles did : " Lord, teach us to pray !" And let 
him give no rest to the throne of grace till 
the promise is fulfilled, "I will pour upon 
them the spirit of grace and of supplication." 
The body can no more breathe without the 
soul, than the soul can breathe without the 
Holy Ghost. He is the soul of the soul. 
Spiritual life begins when he enters the soul. 
Then, as the infant on its birth shows that it 
is alive by its feeble cry, so will the new- 
born babe in Christ evince its life by prayer ; 
and the first aspiratiori that bursts from his 



HIS SPIRIT OF DEVOTION. 83 

heart, is the first respiration of immortality 
— a slight indication, but of a revolution so 
stupendous, that only God can span it; a 
change so lasting, that eternity alone can 
measure it. 

Christian men of business, in these days 
of high pressure especially, ought to beware 
lest the devotional spirit be overborne by 
the world. Are they earnest and diligent in 
their callings ? We do not find fault with 
them for their diligence and earnestness; 
on the contrary, we believe that as a man 
cannot succeed in his pursuits without be- 
ing diligent, so he should look upon dili- 
gence as his obvious duty. But business 
should never be allowed to smother devo- 
tion. If it does, the trafficking is for hell ; 
the merchandise of glory is bartered for the 
merchandise of dust. A conscious depend- 
ence upon God must everywhere be kept 
alive. His presence must be realized in 
every place ; his blessing must be asked on 
every undertaking: this is wisdom, this is 
safety, this is peace. Let any that can, look 
back upon their lives and say that they 
ever, in faithfulness and submission, asked 
for God's guidance in forming, and for his 
blessing in prosecuting, any plan, and found 
reason at last to bewail the issue. But 



84: A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

how many steps taken, how many opinions 
formed, how many engagements entered 
into, how many undertakings ventured 
upon, without seeking divine interposition, 
have ultimately filled their subjects with 
sorrow and shame ! Happy are they whose 
own backslidings have corrected them — who 
have reaped the fruit of their unfaithfulness 
in this world. Whom the Lord loveth, he 
rebuketh and chasteneth. If their prayer- 
less purposes had prospered, their prosperity 
would have been sent in anger, not in love. 
Happy, too, will it be for us, if we learn wis- 
dom from the things we suffer. We ought 
to go to God with everything, nor fear to 
weary his love. Nothing should be counted 
too small for his notice. Does the frequency 
of his child's appeals displease a tender 
father? "Whatever interests us, will interest 
our heavenly Father. Whatever is not too 
minute to engage our attention, is not too 
insignificant to be submitted to his. 

No other habit can so effectually as this 
counteract the secularizing influence of 
trade ; no other will more smooth the rug- 
gedness of life's path, or more secure the 
consistency of Christian character. And 
shall we not rejoice that the Lord's "ear is 
ever open to our prayers ;" that Jesus " ever 



HIS SPIRIT OF DEVOTION. 85 

liveth to make intercession for us?" Sur- 
passing privilege ! Incomprehensible grace ! 
Be it ours to make full proof of the grace — 
to take full advantage of the privilege. Let 
death find us in the spirit, if not in the act, 
of prayer. 



86 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 



CHAPTEE IV. 

RELIANCE ON GOD'S BLESSING. 

One of the holiest and most devoted of 
modern missionaries, when, after surmount- 
ing almost insuperable difficulties, he had 
accomplished the translation of Holy Scrip- 
ture into a language of surpassing difficulty, 
inscribed upon the last page of his manu- 
script this memorable saying : — " I give it, 
as the result of long experience, that prayer 
and pains, with faith in Christ Jesus, will 
enable a man to do anything." Pains, if 
they be godly pains, will always be hallow- 
ed by prayer ; and prayer, if it be genuine 
prayer, will always be followed up by pains. 
But that both may be successful, there must 
be faith in Christ Jesus. "Whatever efforts 
we make, and however we may be strength- 
ened to make them, we cannot command 
the result. The result is still with Him who 
" doeth according to his will in the army of 
heaven, and among the inhabitants of the 
earth, and none can stay his hand, or say 
unto him, What doest Thou ?" A profound 
conviction of this truth is essential to the 



RELIANCE ON GOD'S BLESSING. 87 

life of faith — essential to constrain us in all 
our doings to hang only upon God. 

We have endeavored, in the foregoing chap- 
ters, to indicate the great principle that must 
actuate the servant of God, and the secret 
of the strength by which he may be enabled 
to obey that principle, and also the channel 
through which that strength is continually 
derived to his soul. But the confidence that 
shall suffice to uphold him in all and through 
all his toils and perils must rest not only on 
the succor that is promised to him, but on 
the ultimate success of which he is no less 
assured. He should not more entirely trust 
in God that, in the fulfillment of his duty, 
his blessing will crown his exertion. He 
should regard himself as no less dependent 
for the issue, than for the effort, on Him who 
perfects his wisdom in his children's foolish- 
ness, his strength in their weakness, his grace 
in their un worthiness, and his sovereignty in 
their success. He has undertaken a most 
arduous work : a work beset with every 
circumstance fitted to dishearten; a work 
to which he confesses his own resources 
and agencies are unequal ; a work which 
has to be carried on in the face of the 
bitterest antagonism of adversaries who 
laugh it to scorn, — the strange work of liv- 



88 A MODEL FOR MElfr OF BUSINESS. 

ing in the world and yet escaping its de- 
filements. 

The principle which underlies the practi- 
cal recognition of God in all the events of 
ordinary life is, that for results, just as 
much as for duties, we are utterly dependent 
upon him. We are very apt to lose sight of 
this truth ; either, on the one hand, presum- 
ing on consequences as inevitable, or, on the 
other, not content with being vigilant and 
energetic in the pursuit of our objects, we 
harass ourselves about the issue of our en- 
deavors. We take upon ourselves the bur- 
den of the result, when we should only take 
upon ourselves the yoke of obedience to the 
will of God. Yea, and even for that obedi- 
ence, as was shown in a former chapter, we 
are to confide in the grace which is sufficient 
for us. Surely if we rely upon God for 
strength to fulfill every duty, we should no 
less rely upon him to crown the discharge 
of every duty with success. If no effort is 
of us, but as it is of God, must not the up- 
shot of all our efforts be still more palpably 
in his hands? If, therefore, we have to con- 
fide in him, in order that we may do any- 
thing that is good, it follows that we. must 
repose upon him, in order that what we do 
may be brought to good effect. 



RELIANCE ON GOD'S BLESSING. 89 

That we may exercise such reliance, it is 
essential that we realize the all-pervading, 
all-con troling government of the Lord God 
Omnipotent. In creed, we all avouch that 
sovereignty; yet in the practical details of 
life, where is the Christian who carries out 
this faith in all its bearings and in all its in- 
fluences ? The general providence of God, 
his sway over systems and worlds and na- 
tions, and even over events of magnitude 
and moment, we do not deny. To deny this 
would be virtual atheism. But to own God 
as fashioning every link in the complicated 
chain of our history ; to discern his hand in 
the least as well as in the greatest ; to realize 
a providence which overrules what is evil, 
as well as orders what is good — a providence 
which restrains the unwilling, while it leads 
the obedient — a providence so transcendent, 
that none and nothing can thwart it; so 
minute, that none and nothing can escape it 
- — a providence which directs the insect's 
wing and the atom's flutter, as well as the 
planet's course and the archangel's flight — 
to do this clearly, constantly, and experi- 
mentally, is an attainment in the divine life 
as rare as it is precious ; yet this, and noth- 
ing less than this, is warranted, or rather 
commanded, by such expressions as "in 



90 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

Him we live, and move, and have our be- 
ing ;" " the wrath of man shall praise him, 
and the remainder of wrath he will restrain ;" 
" not a sparrow is forgotten before God ;" 
" not a sparrow falleth to the ground with- 
out our heavenly Father's will ;" " the very 
hairs of our head are all numbered." We 
must interweave these assurances with the 
tissue and texture of our lives; they must 
enter as an essential element into the forma- 
tion of our purposes, and into the conduct 
of our pursuits. It is thus we " must walk 
with God." It is thus we must wait upon 
him, as " working all things according to 
the counsel of his will." It is thus we must 
trust in him, and be " doing good ;" " com- 
mit our way to him, that he may bring it to 
pass." If, however, we are to have confi- 
dence in God's paternal providence while 
pursuing our designs, it is essential that we 
should pursue them as his servants. "We 
must be assured that we are obeying his 
will. We must be diligent because obedi- 
ent. " The God of heaven, he will prosper 
us." What then? Shall we sit still, till 
God accomplish the work by miracle ? shall 
we wait, expecting that God will fulfill his 
own designs? ISTo, but because of his prom- 
ised aid, we will be the more diligent ; we 



RELIANCE ON GOD'S . BLESSING. 91 

will labor, "forasmuch as we know our labor 
is not in vain in the Lord." It is thus, in 
doing the will of God, that we must look for 
the blessing of God. So that, if we are not 
satisfied that the purpose we are cherishing, 
or the friendships we are forming, or the 
undertaking we are enterprising, has the 
divine sanction, and is in harmony with 
our duty, we cannot proceed in the calm 
hope that " God will prosper us." Nothing 
can animate and sustain a Christian like the 
persuasion, " I am about my Father's busi- 
ness ; I am where he would have me be ; I 
am doing what he would have me do." The 
first question, therefore, in all cases is, "Lord, 
what wilt thou have me to do ?" " Is this 
thy way ?" " Then it shall be my way." 
" Is this thy pleasure ?" " Then it shall be 
my pleasure." We must take every step in 
faith. We must " hear a word behind us, 
saying, This is the way, walk ye in it ; when 
we turn to the right hand or turn to the left." 
Then, only then, shall we pursue our path in 
the sweet conviction that all must be well, 
everlastingly well ; for the result is not ours, 
but His whom we serve. 

While, however, we reckon, without wa- 
vering, that God will insure to us a happy 
result, we must leave the time, and the cir- 



92 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

cumstances, and the character of the result 
entirely in his hands. We are not to pre- 
scribe, but to submit; we are not to say, 
"Thus it must be," but "Father, thy will, 
not mine, be done !" It is enough for us to 
know that the issue shall be " according to 
the good pleasure of his will," though it may 
not prove according to our narrow forecast- 
ings, or congenial to our natural desires. 
Disappointment may be the result, and yet 
God have prospered us; heaviness and 
trouble the consequence, and yet God have 
blessed us. He may have been disappoint- 
ing our earthly expectations for the purpose 
of strengthening our heavenly hopes. He 
may have been overshadowing our prospects 
here, for the purpose of brightening our vis- 
ions of the future. He may have been de- 
nying us perishing wealth, in order to aug- 
ment our imperishable riches. He may 
have been bereaving us of the honor that 
cometh from man, in order to give us more 
of the honor that cometh from himself. It 
is indispensable that we should bear this in 
mind, else we may be haunted with the im- 
pression that God has failed to prosper us, 
though we began to build in his name. Suc- 
cess, in the judgment of God, is widely dif- 
ferent from success in the judgment of men. 



RELIANCE ON GOD'S BLESSING. 93 

The Lord often fulfills his promises by seem- 
ing to break them. Abraham went forth 
from his home and country in the obedience 
of faith ; yet, when he reached the promised 
land, God " gave him no inheritance in it — 
no, not so much as to set his foot on." By 
faith, Moses led Israel out of Egypt, yet he 
was shut up forty years in the wilderness, 
and never printed his footmark on the holy 
land. We must see " the end of the Lord," 
before we fully understand his ways. Mean- 
time, suffice it that he has assured us, in re- 
lation to the man whose " delight is in the 
law of the Lord," that " whatsoever he doeth 
shall prosper." Here let us rest. To this 
let us cling. Here is a sheet-anchor which 
never drags. Bear in mind, that in this 
world we see but fragments of the divine 
plan ; we catch but glimpses of the concat- 
enation of the divine chain. When we shall 
see as we are seen, and know as we are 
known, then will the symmetry of the plan, 
and the perfection of the chain, be clear as 
the light of heaven. Then shall we discern 
what now it is so hard to conceive, that " all 
things work together for good to them that 
love God ;" that the almighty Master of the 
universe harmonizes all things, however 
jarring, in our history, in such wise as to 



94 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

make all eventuate in one chorus of eternal 
praise. 

Such is the principle which a Christian 
ought to carry into all the duties of his sec- 
ular, and all the struggles of his spiritual life. 
He will find its influence alike practical and 
blessed. Truly practical, it will give sails to 
his vessel — oil to his machinery. A man toss- 
ed to and fro with apprehensions is unfitted for 
exertion ; he wastes in a flickering blaze the 
oil which should feed a steady flame. So- 
licitude about the result, paralyzes his effort 
for its attainment. But relieve him of this 
burden, and you prepare him for his task. 
Nothing so effectually unnerves the arm as 
an anxious mind. And whence does such a 
mind usually spring? From taking upon 
ourselves the care of consequences, instead 
of devoting our attention to duties alone. 
Let the Christian commit his way unto the 
Lord, trust in him, and be doing good, and 
what hung like a millstone round his ener- 
gies will be gone, and he will gird up his 
loins and pursue his course, like the un- 
chained eagle mounting into the sky. Noth- 
ing so effectually emboldens a man to do 
right as the confidence that all things are in 
his Father's hands. What can divert, what 
dishearten, what withstand him who can, in 



RELIANCE ON GOD'S BLESSING. 95 

the depth of conscious sincerity, say, "The 
God of heaven will prosper me." 

And the principle is potent as it is practi- 
cal. "Knowledge is power," says the phi- 
losopher. " Faith is power," says the saint. 
It endues the believer with a sort of derived 
omnipotence. " If thou canst believe," said 
Christ, " all things are possible to him that 
believeth." And what is faith ? Confidence 
in God — confidence in his almighty power 
and faithfulness ; a confidence which nerves 
the soul for every task. Whether, therefore, 
for spiritual or for secular duty, whether for 
duty in the outer or the inner life, there is 
no principle can brace a man like the prin- 
ciple of implicit trust in God. Let a be- 
liever once rise to the height of this princi- 
ple, and he will smile at difficulty, and be 
calm in danger. Let him be assured that 
God says, "Do this," and he will say, "It 
shall be done ; Thou wilt enable me to do 
it. I am but a clay vessel for thee to use ; 
the excellency of the power is all thine own. 
The Lord is my light and my salvation; 
whom then shall I fear ? The Lord is the 
strength of my life ; of whom then shall I be 
afraid ?" Here is the power which enabled 
the saints of old to " quench the violence of 
fire, to stop the mouths of lions ; out of weak- 



96 A MODEL FOE MEN OF BUSINESS. 

ness to be made strong, to wax valiant in 
fight, to put to flight the armies of the 
aliens." In the might of this confidence, 
the believer can advance through the storm 
as through the calm, in the midst of dark- 
ness as in the midst of day. Nor is this 
faith less fitted to regulate, than it is to in- 
vigorate in all circumstances and in all anx- 
ieties. Is the result with God ? Then the 
grand inquiry is, not what is pleasant, but 
w T hat is right; not what is plausible, but 
what is sound ; not what looks most likely to 
prosper, but what can anticipate success 
from God. This singleness of reliance will 
secure singleness of judgment; and the 
believer will have but one supreme study in 
all his pursuits, earthly as well as heavenly — 
to ascertain and fulfill the will of his Father 
in heaven. Steering by this chart, how 
steady will be his course, and how fixed his 
helm ! "While others are tossed to and fro 
by conflicting winds and opposing currents, 
he will be borne along as by a gulf-stream, 
and wafted as by a trade-wind. 

]STeed it be added, that this principle will 
sweetly compose and calm the Christian in 
the pursuit of his earthly duties? He who 
is actuated by it can be tranquil under re- 
proaches, misconstructions, and misrepresent- 



RELIANCE ON GOD'S BLESSING. 97 

ations. He will "hold him still in the 
Lord," as the Psalmist beautifully expresses 
it. "Still in the Lord" — self-possessed and 
unruffled in him, as overruling all things — 
as doing all things well. Such a one will 
be able to act on the counsel given in the 
same expressive psalm: "Rest in the Lord, 
and wait patiently for him : fret not thyself 
because of him who prospereth in his way, 
because of the man who bringeth wdcked de- 
vices to pass." " Commit thy way unto the 
Lord; trust also in him, and he shall bring it 
to pass ; and he shall bring forth thy righte- 
ousness as the light, and thy judgment as the 
noonday." Hence it was that the man of 
God, already specially referred to, was not 
careful to answer the bad men who laughed 
his design to scorn, and charged him with 
treason against his king. He contented 
himself with simply protesting, " The God 
of heaven, he will prosper us ; therefore we 
his servants will arise and build." Them 
who thus honor God, he will honor. No 
matter how dark the path which the believer 
pursues, if only he pursue it without falter- 
ing ; for " light is sown for the righteous," 
however long it may be before it spring 
forth. " Though it tarry, wait for it ; for at 
last it shall come, and shall not tarry." 
1 



98 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

Your labor cannot be in vain, if it be labor 
in the Lord. 

Is it not then clear as the sunshine, that a 
single eye to the blessing of God, as the 
spring of all exertion and the source of all 
success, is of vital moment in all our under- 
takings, whether spiritual or secular ? Here 
must we find nerve and confidence for the 
mighty work which is accomplishing, or has 
to be accomplished, within us- — personal sal- 
vation. Let us consider the natural condition 
of our souls. Does it not resemble a city in 
ruins, " the walls broken down, and the 
gates thereof burned with. fire?" But it is 
not the will of God that our moral being 
should remain thus desolate. " This is the 
will of God, even your sanctification." This 
is the will of God, even that out of the ruins 
of our nature there should be raised up a 
temple within us for " a habitation of God 
through the Spirit." Let no one, then, stag- 
ger at the greatness of the task, or at the 
difficulties which beset it, or at the impo- 
tency of his own efforts. Let him set about 
the glorious work in the assurance that God 
is with him, and will not suffer him to fail 
in the attempt. Listen to his exhortations, 
which are all likewise gracious promises. 
" Build up yourselves on your most holy 



RELIANCE ON GOD'S BLESSING. 99 

faith, praying in the Holy Ghost." " Giving 
all diligence, add to your faith virtue ; and 
to virtue knowledge ; and to knowledge 
temperance ; and to temperance patience ; 
and to patience godliness ; and to godliness 
brotherly kindness ; and to brotherly kind- 
ness charity" — till the top-stone of the living 
temple be brought forth " with shoutings of 
grace, grace unto it." Be " confident of this 
very thing, that he which hath begun a good 
work in his children, will perfect it until 
the day of Christ." 

Take this principle, and apply it also in 
our efforts " to set forth the glory of God, 
and set forward the salvation of all men." 
In these latter days, God sets before his 
people many great and effectual doors of 
usefulness. Let no one say, " I am weak, 
and have small resources — how can I ac- 
complish aught ?" It is the same with God 
to save by the few, as by the many — to dis- 
comfit his enemies by the crash of earthen 
pitchers, as by the serried hosts of the 
mighty. " Who hath despised the day of 
small things?" How slight the first streak 
of dawn ! How minute the grain of mus- 
tard-seed ! Some of the noblest exploits in 
the Church have had the feeblest beginnings. 
Look at the birth of the great work of latter- 



100 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

day evangelization. A few Christian men 
met together in obscurity and seeming 
feebleness ; they pondered and prayed over 
the state of the heathen world ; they con- 
ceived and planned the glorious enterprise 
of evangelizing all Pagan lands. "What has 
been the result? The God of heaven has 
prospered them. The missionary enterprise 
has assumed a definite form, and put forth 
the inherent energy of vital Christianity, 
and now counts the children which it has 
borne to God by tens of thousands ; mission- 
aries are preaching in almost every tongue 
the wondrous works of God ; and all the 
ends of the earth are white already unto 
the harvest. " What hath God wrought ?" 
"Behold how great a matter a little fire 
kindleth" — if only it be fire from above. 

Regard not, then, the difficulties that may 
block up the path of usefulness, but have 
respect to the promises of God. Say not 
with the slothful, "There is a lion in the 
way," nor with the faithless, " It cannot be 
done." Ask, Is it right— am I called to at- 
tempt it ? Then ask no more. What may 
not the humblest believer achieve, who sets 
about his work in the strength, and rests for 
the result upon, the arm of the Almighty? 

O that Christians would learn to ask great 



RELIANCE ON GOD'S BLESSING. 101 

things — attempt great things — expect great 
things! only to ask in faith, attempt in 
strength divine, and build all their expecta- 
tions on the faithfulness of Him that hath 
promised, — that they would carry this wait- 
ing upon God alone into all their commercial 
and secular affairs ; enter into no partner- 
ship, form no scheme, embark in no specu- 
lation, upon which they cannot invoke the 
blessing of the Lord. And, having so done — 
having asked counsel of God — then let them 
be not wavering or distrustful as to the issue ; 
patiently pursuing the course that is set be- 
fore them, and letting the Lord do what 
seemeth him good. Results are his alone. 
We have no right to intermeddle with them. 
They are the province of another. "The 
morrow shall take thought for the things 
of itself; sufficient unto the day is the evil 
thereof." God is as much in the future as 
he is in the present ; there is no variable- 
ness, no darkness, no futurity with him. 
" We walk by faith, not by sight." So, even 
amid all the temptations, perplexities, sor- 
rows, and failures to which good men will 
be subjected in this strange, transitory scene, 
" the peace of God, which passeth all under- 
standing, shall keep their hearts and minds 
through Christ Jesus." Amen. 



102 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 



CHAPTEE Y. 

ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GOD'S HAND. 

Hard by the altar of burnt- offering stood 
the altar of incense in the ancient Temple. 
As the one symbolized the atonement to be 
made by Christ, and the other the fragrant 
merits of that atonement ; so did the former 
represent also the offering of prayer to God 
through Christ's mediation by his faithful 
people, and the latter the oblation of praise, 
presented through the same intercession as a 
sweet-smelling savor to the Lord. Prayer 
and praise are twin services. They should 
go hand in hand in the life of the pilgrim 
of faith. How beautifully are they linked 
together in the precepts of Scripture ! 

In the lessons of inspiration we have in 
one verse the injunction — "Pray without 
ceasing ;" and in the next the kindred com- 
mand — " In everything give thanks." So, 
when we are bidden to be " careful for 
nothing, but in everything, by prayer and 
supplication," to let our requests be made 
known unto God, it is added, "with thanks- 
giving." Incense ought always fo be min- 






ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GOD'S HAND. 103 

gled with the burnt-offering; the prayer 
that is not savoured with praise is lacking 
in sweetness. Yet such is the pride, the 
selfishness, and the unbelief of the human 
heart, that there is no duty — we ought rather 
to say, no privilege — more shamefully slight- 
ed than the duty — the privilege — of praise. 
How many will sue to God in the storm, 
who straightway forget him in the calm ; 
how many will call upon him in the day of 
their trouble, who fail to acknowledge him 
in the day of their deliverance ; how many 
will cry unto him for succor in the hour of 
peril, who never own his hand, w r hen res- 
cued from their danger, in answer to their 
cries! If there be one token more than 
another that bespeaks the depth of our fall, 
it is the depth of our ingratitude. Ungodli- 
ness is the spiritual epidemic of our nature ; 
unthankfulness, one of the most palpable evi- 
dences of that ungodliness. Men who will 
be grateful, most grateful, to the mother that 
bare and nursed them— men who will be 
grateful, most grateful, to the father that fed 
and taught and trained them — men who will 
glow with gratitude toward the friend that 
stood by them in the hour of their distress; 
— these very men will never think of the 
Father of their spirits — never think of Him 



104: A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

who has loved them with infinitely more 
than a mother's tenderness, and be all cold- 
ness toward the friend who so loved them 
that he laid down his life for them. How 
loathsome is ingratitude toward man, even 
in the eyes of men ! How would a person 
be reprobated, and almost execrated, as un- 
worthy of the name of man, who should 
behave toward a mortal benefactor as too 
many of us behave toward the Father of 
mercies and God of all consolation ! 

The genuine and truly noble servant of 
God acts not on this wise. He not only 
lifts up his heart in prayer when he is in 
distress, but after his prayer has been an- 
swered, he does not overlook the hand that 
had succored him. Nor does he ascribe 
to himself the success of his measures, nor 
burn incense to his own vanity, and rob 
God of the glory due to his name. We 
have traced out the spirit of devotion which 
pervades his character ; we have seen how he 
communes with God, not only in the closet 
and the sanctuary, but how in the midst 
of multitudes, when encompassed with perils 
and insults and perplexities, he still holds se- 
cret converse with the skies. Now the same 
spirit of faith that leads him thus to live in 
prayer, leads him also to live in praise. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GOD'S HAND. 105 

Now it is this spirit, pervading the daily 
walk of the devout man of business, leading 
him to recognize the divine hand in all of his 
mercies — acknowledge all his blessings as 
coming from God — regard all his acquisi- 
tions as belonging to God — use all his tal- 
ents and possessions as the fruits of God's 
manifold grace — it is this excellent spirit 
that we would portray, and commend as 
worthy of all acceptation. 

Ingratitude is the child of pride ; thank- 
fulness, the offspring of humility. A proud 
man will never be truly grateful ; an humble 
man possesses the first element of gratitude. 
Even in the intercourse of man with man, you 
will find this rule hold good. Benefit a vain 
man, and he will ascribe the service to his own 
desert, he will look upon it as no more than 
a just tribute to his excellence ; but serve a 
lowly man, and he will attribute the service 
to the kindness of his benefactor. A proud 
child thinks that he has laid his parents 
under obligations: a lowly child feels that 
he can never liquidate the debt of gratitude 
•he owes to them. The same rule holds in 
relation to God. You must be lowly, if you 
would be grateful. The bird that builds the 
lowest nest, soars the highest in the bright 
blue sky. The lark hides her nest in the 



106 A HODBL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

grass, but her flight is far up in the heavens ; 
she loves to lose herself in the beams of the 
sun, till you can tell where she is hovering, 
only by the gushing strains which she pours 
from on high. It is so with the true servant 
of God ; in proportion as he lays self in the 
dust he will mount upon the wings of thank- 
fulness to heaven; praise will fill his lips, 
because humility fills his heart. Were we 
more profoundly impressed with the sense of 
our own indesert, we should be more vividly 
impressed with the sovereign grace and over- 
flowing goodness of our Father in heaven. 
Men naturally imagine that they have a 
claim to all they have — yea, and to a great 
deal more than they possess. They are 
prone to dwell on what they lack, rather 
than on what they enjoy: they compare 
themselves w T ith those more favored, not 
with those more suffering than themselves. 
Can we wonder, then, that the world is filled 
with discontent, instead of thankfulness — 
with mourning, instead of praise ? See the 
hateful effects of such a spirit terribly illus- 
trated in the history of the haughty Haman. 
But the contrite heart of the believer re- 
minds him that everything short of hell is 
mercy to a sinner; that a cup of cold water 
is far beyond his deserts. Take this as the 



ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GOD'S HAND. 107 

standard by which to measure our mercies, 
and what a tide of blessing is poured even 
on the meanest and most desolate of the hu- 
man race ! 

Next to humility, there must be faith, in 
order to thankfulness. In the last chap- 
ter the attempt is made to show how the 
special providence of God ought, in all 
places and on all occasions, to be realized 
by the believer — in the counting-house as 
well as the sanctuary — in the ramifications 
of business as well as in the ordinances of 
worship. This minute recognition of di- 
vine interposition is essential, in order to the 
grateful acknowledgment of the hand of 
God in our mercies. The believer in chance, 
who ascribes everything to fortune or to 
fatality — how can he own the divine hand ? 
It must be seen to be trusted — it must be 
trusted to be glorified. Faith, therefore — ■ 
faith discerning the Almighty hand within 
the machinery of second causes, as actua- 
ting, controling, determining all — such a 
faith is the parent of unfailing praise. 

Men of business, from the very nature of 
their occupations, are specially liable to lose 
the lively exercise of this practical faith. 
Their attention is of necessity largely ab- 
sorbed in the measures which they must 



108 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

adopt — the steps which they must take — the 
instrumentalities which they must employ, 
in order to success ; so that they are apt to 
fall into a secular, material state of mind, 
which recognizes little beyond physical ma- 
chinery ; or at most, confines the providence 
of God to a kind of vague universal super- 
vision, but does not trace it as interwoven 
with the details of life. The frequent con- 
sequence is a hardness of spirit, an unthank- 
ful, undevotional frame of heart, seldom in 
contact with God, craving little of his pres- 
ence, and enjoying little of his peace. It is 
therefore of the utmost importance, ye men 
of engrossing occupation, that ye should 
accustom yourselves to realize the fact that 
God is j ust as much the agent where the 
most complicated machinery is employed, 
as where there is scarcely a shadow of in- 
strumentality ; that he is just as much the 
agent in giving "seed to the sower and bread 
to the eater," by means of the sun, and the 
seasons, and the rain, and the gases of the 
earth, and the thousand other influences 
which concur to produce the harvest, as he 
was the agent when he took the five loaves 
and the few little fishes in his hand, and 
multiplied them as they were being distribu- 
ted among the multitude. In the one case, 



ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GOD'S HAND. 109 

we call the agency creation ; in the other, 
providence — but is it not equally, in both, 
the finger of God? "Were it otherwise, 
how could God govern the universe ? Did 
causes or creatures act independently of his 
control, where were the certainty of his pur- 
poses, or the stability of his throne ? O, 
could we but keep his hand in view as it is 
our privilege and duty to keep it, not all the 
apparatus of means — not all the efforts we 
employ in our diversified pursuits — not all 
our devotedness in the prosecution of our 
multitudinous objects, would make us either 
unmindful of our dependence, or ungrateful 
for his ceaseless care ! 

It is this practical faith that is needed in 
order to the perpetual acknowledgment of 
the goodness of God. Christians ought to 
beware how they ever ascribe their success 
to any skill or power of their own. They 
should take heed that they do not boast be- 
cause they may have been vigorous and 
healthy ; or because their knowledge may 
have been clear, and their judgment prompt 
and sound; or because, having laid their 
plans with consummate prudence, they car- 
ried them out with consummate address ; or 
because, having adopted every precaution 
against what the world calls accident and 



110 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

chance, their precautions were crowned 
with the happiest result. What though all 
this be true, are they therefore to vaunt with 
the godless Assyrian, "My own hand hath 
got it me, and my wisdom, because I am 
prudent?" If we so boast, God will leave us 
to our self-sufficiency, and our prosperity 
w T ill be our ruin. Rather than this, it had 
been better to have failed in every plan, to 
have been baffled in every speculation, — 
been beggared instead of being enriched. 

The merchant has most reason to watch 
and pray in the day of his prosperity. It is 
easier to bear the ebb of disappointment 
than the flood-tide of success. The vessel 
that had weathered the storm sometimes 
springs the leak, or goes to pieces on the 
sunken rock, in the midst of the calm. So 
it has often been with the professor of godli- 
ness : after having borne the heavings and 
tossings of the tempestuous deep, he has 
made shipwreck on the glassy sea, amid the 
sunshine of gladness. We have most reason 
to watch when we think ourselves most se- 
cure. It was the beautiful remark of a poor 
Christian, when unexpected relief was given 
to her — " O ! what a blessing it is to be poor, 
that one may see the hand of God so plain." 
How just the sentiment ! The hand of God 



ACKNOYvXEDGMENT OF GOD'S HAND. Ill 

is often concealed from the opulent in the 
very affluence of its gifts; while to the 
pious poor it is quite naked, though spread- 
ing their table but with bread and water, 
A dinner of herbs so seasoned with gratitude, 
is incomparably sweeter than a stalled ox 
eaten in selfish thanklessness. Think not 
that there is no danger of your being be- 
trayed into such a spirit of unthankfulness. 
Remember the conduct of Hezekiah — the 
good King Hezekiah. When the blasphem- 
ing monarch of Assyria came up against 
Jerusalem and besieged it, and the Jewish 
prince was driven to sore extremity, then he 
sought his God right humbly, and spread 
the letter of his adversary before the mercy- 
seat, and cried aloud for deliverance ; and 
the Lord hearkened unto his prayer, and the 
angel of the Lord went forth, and smote in 
the camp of the Assyrians, till " they were 
all dead corpses." And again, when he was 
in -sickness, and nigh unto death, he turned 
his face to the wall, and wept and prayed 
and plead ; and God had respect to his sup- 
plication, and added fifteen years to his life. 
But what was the result ? At first, indeed, 
the king was filled with gratitude, and ex- 
claimed, " The living, the living, he shall 
praise thee, as I do this day ; the father to 



112 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

the children shall make known thy truth ; 
all the day long will I sing thy praise !" — 
yet the sad record of his after days is, " but 
llezekiah rendered not again unto the Lord, 
according to the benefit done unto him ; for 
his heart was lifted up." Is it not often so 
among ourselves? Where are those who 
were sick, and called upon God in their 
sickness, and he restored them ? Have they 
rendered unto the Lord according to the 
benefit done unto them ? Christ said of 
the lepers whom he had healed, "Were 
there not ten cleansed, but where are the 
nine ?" In like manner we may say, Were 
there not ten raised from the bed of lan- 
guishing, but where are the nine ? Were 
there not ten prospered in their plans, but 
where are the nine? Were there not ten 
rescued from impending peril, but where are 
the nine? Were there not ten who escaped 
the pestilence that walked in darkness, but 
where are the nine? One, here and there, 
— sometimes the outcast and the stranger, 
sometimes the man we should have least ex- 
pected, — returns to give glory to God. But 
where are the heartless, thankless multitude 
of recipients ? 

However prevalent the sin of ingratitude, 
there is none God abhors with a deeper ab- 



ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GOD'S HAND. 113 

horrence, there is none which he will more 
assuredly punish. "He w r ill not give his 
glory to another." Behold an instance. 
Who was more prosperous than the haughty 
Nebuchadnezzar ? Yet what said he in the 
pride of his heart, when he had finished his 
matchless city ? He said, " Is not this great 
Babylon, that I have built for the house of 
the kingdom, by the might of my power, 
and for the honor of my majesty?" And 
what was the consequence? "The same 
hour the king was driven from men, and did 
eat grass as oxen ; and his body was wet 
with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were 
grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like 
birds' claws." God turned into a beast the 
man who was so brutish that he did not 
know, or so arrogant that he would not own, 
the hand that gave him all. But after he 
had been reduced to the lowest debasement, 
when at length his understanding returned 
unto him, then he " blessed the Most High, 
and praised and honored him that liveth for 
ever ;" and " who doeth according to his 
will in the army of heaven, and among the 
inhabitants of the earth." 

But it is good that we should be reminded 
of the benign influence which the spirit of 
continual acknowledgment of the hand of 



114 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

God will exert upon us. One of its happiest 
effects will be to enable us to bear prosperity 
with meekness. If a man's success is as- 
cribed to himself, he is sure to be intoxicated ; 
but if to God, that very success will humble 
him. Then is he able to carry the overflow- 
ing cup steadily, and to sip from it with 
safety ; then will he taste of it thankfully, 
but not drain it to the dregs. Receiving all 
as from God, the more he has the more will 
he be stimulated to faithfulness in his trust. 
He will realize that he is not the proprietor, 
but the steward ; that he is not the master, 
to do what he will with his own, but the 
servant, to trade with his Lord's money, that 
when he cometh and reckoneth with him, 
he may receive his own with usury. As 
every man expects his servant to be faithful 
to him in the use of his property, so should 
all feel that so God expects them to be faith- 
ful to him in the administration of that which 
is his. How effectually will this thought 
guard a man against being lifted up or car- 
ried away by what God intrusts to him. 
"It is of the Lord's mercies that we are 
not consumed, because his compassions fail 
not," will be the language of the believer in 
the hour of his distress ; and " I am less than 
the least of all his mercies," will be his sen- 



ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GOD'S HAND. 115 

timent in the day of his fullness and pros- 
perity. Such a man will be more humbled 
the more he is exalted ; and the more God 
gives him and enables him to do, the more 
will he feel his unworthiness. Beautifully 
was this spirit exemplified in St. Paul : "I 
labored more abundantly than they all," 
says he, "yet not I, but the grace of God 
that was with me." So, again, " Behold I 
live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." 
And after God had done such great things 
by him among the Gentiles, he said, "To 
me, who am less than the least of all saints, 
is this grace given, that I should preach 
among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches 
of Christ." All of grace — himself nothing. 
The same spirit will make a man generous 
and large-hearted. Where God is forgotten, 
it is pitiful to see how riches harden the 
heart of him who gains them. Sometimes 
the man who was liberal while he was poor, 
becomes niggardly as he becomes wealthy. 
The tendency of gain is to nourish selfish- 
ness, if the hand that bestows it is overlook- 
ed; and the thirst of selfishness can never 
be slaked. The reservoir of the covetous 
never overflows. Recognizing no obligation, 
he yields to no claim. A man of this sort 
once said, " Others never give to me, why 



116 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

should I give to others f M Infatuated man! 
is there none that ever gives to thee ? What 
hast thou that thou hast not received? Has 
God given thee nothing? Who gave thee 
reason, life, success? Who prospered thy 
plans ? Who gave thee power to get wealth ? 
Who has kept thy dwelling safe ? Who has 
warded off from thee a thousand calamities 
which have overtaken thy fellows? And 
art thou then indebted to none — has none a 
right to thy bounty ? Wilt thou rob God ? 
Shall he have no share of what is his own ? 
Remember he cometh to reckon with thee, 
and then thou must account for "thy Lord's 
money." 

Nor will the habitual acknowledgment of 
God's hand serve only to enlarge a man's 
heart in bountifulness ; it will at the same 
time save him from self-complacency when 
he has done all ; it will constrain him to as- 
cribe to his Father in heaven both the abil- 
ity and the disposition to give. If he lets 
his light shine before men, it is that they 
may see his good works, not himself ; and 
glorify not him, but his Father which is in 
heaven. When he relieves the poor and 
needy, it is not in the fond notion of making 
God his debtor, but in grateful acknowledg- 
ment of the hand that has filled him with 



ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GOD'S HAND. 117 

plenteousness. Thus, by laying up less 
treasure for himself on earth, he becomes 
more rich toward God; for what a man 
freely gives, that is placed to his account in 
heaven. Keep back what is the Lord's, and 
in robbing him you rob yourself; give what 
is his out of love to him, and you secure it 
to yourself. Look to man for your reward, 
and you have it ; but none shall await you 
above. Be rich for yourselves, and you shall 
be poor toward God ; be poor toward your- 
selves, and you shall be rich toward him. It 
is, therefore, the lowly sense of the divine hand 
in all, which will effectually avert the tempta- 
tion to which the generous giver is exposed, 
to trust in himself, and thus let the spirit of 
self-righteousness mar his charity, and bereave 
him of " the recompense of the reward." 

How beautifully is the union of munifi- 
cence and humility exemplified in the char- 
acter of the man after God's own heart! 
When David, once a poor shepherd, became 
abundant in riches, they did not estrange his 
heart from God. No, his whole soul was on 
fire to devote his wealth to the erection of 
" an habitation for the mighty God of Ja- 
cob ;" and when he had been warned 
that the glory of the work was reserved 
for his son, to which decision he submit- 



118 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

ed without a murmur, he set himself at 
once to make the most magnificent prepara- 
tions for the intended palace for God. Yet 
when he had done all — when he and his peo- 
ple, animated by his example, had provided 
a store of gold and precious things, unprece- 
dented in costliness and amount, was the 
oblation tarnished by a single sentiment of 
self-satisfaction ? Far from it. Hearken to 
his glorious language: — "Then the people 
rejoiced, for that they offered willingly, be- 
cause with perfect heart they offered wil- 
lingly to the Lord: and David the king 
also rejoiced with great joy. Wherefore 
David blessed the Lord before all the con- 
gregation : and David said, Blessed be thou, 
Lord God of Israel, our Father, for ever and 
ever. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, 
and the power, and the glory, and the 
victory, and the majesty: for all that is in 
the heaven and in the earth is thine ; thine 
is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art ex- 
alted as head above all. Both riches and 
honor come of thee, and thou reignest over 
all ; and in thy hand is power and might : 
and in thy hand it is to make great, and 
to give strength unto all. Now therefore, 
our God, we thank thee, and praise thy 
glorious name. But who am I, and what is 






ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GOD'S HAND. 119 

my people, that we should be able to offer 
so willingly after this sort? For all things 
come of thee, and of thine own have we 
given thee. For we are strangers before 
thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers : 
our days on the earth are as a shadow, and 
there is none abiding. O Lord our God, 
all this store that we have prepared to build 
thee a house for thine holy name, cometh 
of thine hand, and is all thine own." 

What gracious words ! Could language 
be more expressive of utter self-renun- 
ciation and simple acknowledgment of the 
grace of God, not only in the abundance 
which he had been able to present, but in 
the joyful willingness with which he had 
been endued to make the offering? Indeed, 
his thankfulness was greater for the willing 
mind than for the overflowing hand. Flesh 
and blood had not taught him this, but the 
Spirit of his Father in heaven. Far better 
to be rich in heart and poor in hand, than 
poor in heart and rich in hand. The mite 
of the poor widow, cheerfully given, is of far 
greater worth in heaven than the costliest 
gifts of the rich, if grudgingly bestowed. 

Let us especially remark the transport of 
joy which filled the breast of the son of 
Jesse when he offered so willingly to the 



120 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

Lord. It is an evidence of the genial influ- 
ence which the spirit of gratitude and praise 
exerts on the happiness of him in whom it 
dwells. God has bound up our happiness 
in our duty; and in no duty more than in 
that of thankfulness. Even when felt to- 
ward a human benefactor, how sweet the 
emotion of gratitude — except to a proud and 
selfish heart ! But if it be so in relation to 
an earthly friend, the exuberance of whose 
kindness may, because of the narrowness of 
his resources, oppress us ; how much more 
must it hold good in regard to that Father 
of mercies, whose gifts can never burden, 
because they are given out of an infinite full- 
ness ! The obligation to love and adore him, 
is an obligation to be joyful and glad. Praise 
is the fragrance breathed from the flower of 
joy. He is happiest who is thankfulest. 
This lesson is taught us by the lower crea- 
tures themselves. Morose and unkindly 
animals express as little of enjoyment as 
they do of gratefulness by their snarling and 
growling sounds. The beasts and birds of 
night are rarely gladsome. But the lambs 
which sport and gambol in their green pas- 
tures, and the birds which in the early morn- 
ing wake the echoes of the woodland with 
their songs, all tell most unmistakably that 



ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GOD'S HAND. 121 

they are happy. How much more, then, 
must it be the blessedness of man " to look 
through nature up to nature's God," and 
glorify the Giver in all his varied gifts ! 

It is a pleasant thing to be thankful. 
Xothing will more soothe our toils, beguile 
our cares, or animate us, amid all the hard- 
ships, emergencies, vexations and vicissitudes 
of life. The busy callings of life can be pur- 
sued in no other way so fitted to abate the 
wear and tear to which they subject men, as 
by carrying into the counting-house or the 
warehouse, the manufactory or the shop, this 
spirit of humble dependency and gratitude. 
What elasticity does it give to their minds 
— what cheerfulness to their labors ! It 
brings down much of heaven to earth — fore- 
stalling angelic bliss. We are nearest to 
heaven, and likest to angels, when we are 
most absorbed in praise. 

In blessing God, we are blessed of him. 
There are not a few men laden with the 
riches of this world, abounding in honors, 
"clothed in purple and fine linen, and faring 
sumptuously every day ;" yet full of rest- 
lessness, repining and discontent; satiated 
with pleasure, and weary of life. Why is 
it so with them ? Because, instead of using 
the world, they abused it ; instead of being 



L23 A HODBL for ION OF m six ESS. 

filled with thankfulness, they were torment- 
ed by covetousnese. There are also others 

Coarsely clad, poorly housed, and sparingly 
fed, who yet walk in sunshine and toil in 

peace — just because they season the dinner 
of herbs with thanksgiving, and beguile their 
daily task with praise. An unthankful man 
can never be happy; a thankful man cannot 
be wretched. It is not what a man has, but 
what he enjoys, that signifies to him. How 
beautifully just the sentiment of Addison! 
He says in one of his hymns — 

" And not the least a thankful heart, 
That doubles all my store." 

Give such a one a crust of bread and a cup 
of water and he will relish them ; w r hile the 
selfish man will devour the stalled ox in 
bitterness. The lark will sing amid the 
wires of his cage, as well as in the sunny 
sky ; and the loving Christian can raise 
his anthem in the dungeon, as well as in 
the sanctuary ; in poverty, as w r ell as in 
affluence; in the storm, as w r ell as in the 
calm. Thankfulness will make the bed of 
anguish easy, and the yoke of labor light. 

To crown all — no spirit will more adorn a 
Christian's walk and conversation than a 
spirit of praise. Whether in the warehouse, 



ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GOD'S HAND. 123 

the counting-house, or the shop, an unthank- 
ful man of business dishonors God, and 
brings a reproach upon his service. Instead 
of a generous, genial, elastic mind, he ex- 
hibits a worried, repining, selfish temper. 
The world will lay this to the account of his 
religion. They will not be won by such an 
example. That man will reflect neither the 
beauty nor the blessedness of serving Christ. 
The garment of holiness is then most comely, 
when it is fastened by the golden clasp of 
thankfulness. When the Christian is thus 
adorned, men take knowledge of him that 
he has been with Jesus ; they will be led to 
covet that happiness which the world can 
neither give nor take away. What shall I 
more say of the spirit of thankfulness? It is 
alike acceptable to the Creator and beseem- 
ing to the creature — the glory of angels and 
the element of heaven. 

What a want there is throughout Christen- 
dom of the devout acknowledgment of the 
hand of God ! What a want of it in our 
own privileged land! We perceive it in the 
councils of the nation — we note it in the 
debates of the senate — we trace it in the 
measures of our statesmen — we discover it 
in the tone of the public press — we detect it 
in the literature of the age — we discern it 



1-1 A MODEL FOB MEN OF BUSINi: 

alike in the transactions of business and in 
the concerns of domestic life. God grant 
the spirit of repentance to our land for her 
past delinquencies in this matter! and may 
be lead all classes in the community, sena- 
tors, merchants, tradesmen, ministers, labor- 
ers — all, from the highest to the lowest, to 
recognize his hand in everything ; lest he in 
righteous wrath " curse our blessings," and 
take away from us the vineyard, whose 
fruits we have failed to render him in their 
season ! 

But what guilt has not each individual 
contracted in this matter? Can the reader 
say, "I have rendered to the Lord according 
as he has given to me ; I have used his 
talents as a faithful steward; my praises 
have kept pace w T ith his mercies ?" Rather 
must not every one confess, I have rejoiced 
in his gifts rather than in himself, the giver; 
I have ascribed my success to my own wis- 
dom, or resolution, or good fortune, (as the 
language of the world has it;) I have sought 
to glorify myself rather than my God; it 
is of the Lord's mercies that I am not con- 
sumed. May the precious blood of Jesus 
wail] away the stains of our unthankfnlness; 
may hjs Spirit kindle on the altar of our 
hearts a never-ceasing sacrifice of praise! 



HIS DETERMINATION OF PURPOSE. 125 



CHAPTEK VL 

HIS DETERMINATION OF PURPOSE. 

Pitiful was the sketch which Jacob on his 
death-bed drew of his eldest son : he said 
unto him, " Unstable as water, thou shalt 
not excel." Instability is fatal to excellence. 
No man can do anything great, who is not 
firm in his resolves, and constant in his un- 
dertakings. The ancient Greeks had an 
aphorism which is worthy of remembrance 
— " He is formidable who does one thing." 
The concentration of the energies of the soul, 
the faculties of the mind, and the efforts of 
the life, on some one master end, will give a 
tone, a coherence, and a grandeur to the 
character. A man must have a fixed de- 
sign, or he will not have a steady course. 
As the instrument tuned to no key-note, so 
is the man whose spirit is strung to no com- 
manding aim. In vain does the vessel 
launch forth from the harbor if she have no 
haven for which to steer, and no helm by 
which to shape her voyage; but let her obey 
her rudder well, and keep her point in view, 
and then, however she may be driven to and 



126 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

fro by adverse winds and opposing currents, 
she will still return to her track, and urge 
her way to the longed-for port. The travel- 
er will never reach his distant home unless 
he set that home before him — he may 
wander, but he cannot journey; he may 
seek, but he cannot find. Even so in the 
journey of life. A supreme end, even of an 
earthly kind, will give a certain force and 
coherence to character. The ambitious man, 
in the pursuit of the object which absorbs 
his soul, (evil though that object be when 
tested by God's truth,) imparts a sort of 
dark grandeur to his character, in conse- 
quence of the stern resolve with which he 
pursues his purpose. Now, he does it to 
obtain a corruptible crown ; but what ought 
to be the master aim of every candidate of 
immortality ? The catechism of the Church 
of Scotland furnishes the answ T er to this 
question excellently. " What," it is asked, 
"is the chief end of man?" and in reply it 
is said — " Man's chief end is to know, to 
serve, to glorify, and to enjoy God forever." 
Worthy, only worthy end of a being so 
created and endowed as man ! If, then, 
such be our being's purpose, all who would 
live for immortality must live for the ac- 
complishment of that design. Take a just 



HIS DETERMINATION OF PURPOSE. 127 

view of your life, and all is but dung and 
dross in comparison with your final accept- 
ance with God. This is the object, the one 
object which you must enterprise, prosecute, 
and secure, in order that life may be a bless- 
ing to you, and immortality an enhancement 
of the blessing. What a work is before us ! 
— a work for the achievement of which God 
" spared not his own Son, but delivered him 
up for us all" — a work for the attainment of 
which, the eternal Word, who " was in the 
form of God, and thought it no robbery to 
be equal with God, made himself of no rep- 
utation, and took upon him the form of a 
servant, and was made in the likeness of 
men' 7 — a work for the accomplishment of 
which God incarnate " humbled himself, 
and became obedient unto death, even the 
death of the cross" — a work for the accom- 
plishment of which Jesus won his glorious 
resurrection and ascension, and became 
"head over all things to his church" — a work 
for the effectuation of which God the Holy 
Ghost is sent down by the Father and the 
Son into the souls of those that are saved, 
and dwells there, and works there, and car- 
ries on a new creation, and builds them up 
in holiness, and fits and fashions them for 
heaven — a work the dimensions and issues 



128 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

of which it will require eternity to unfold, 
and eternity to comprehend ! 

In this work every ransomed child of man 
ought to be intensely engaged. His language 
should be — " I have a soul to be saved, a 
God to glorify, a Saviour to follow, a gene- 
ration to serve according to the will of God, 
unnumbered adversaries to vanquish, an evil 
host to crucify, eternal life to win; whatever 
I neglect, these things must not be neglected 
— all must be subordinated to the things that 
belong to my peace." To all the imperti- 
nences of earth which would divert me, to all 
the cares of the world which would distract 
me, I will say, " I am doing a great work, so 
that I cannot come down : why should the 
work cease, while I leave it, and come down 
to you?" Such will be the concentrating 
power of faith in the soul of the believer ; 
such the energy of that living principle 
which makes the things unseen, evident — 
the things hoped for, substantial — the things 
far off, contiguous — the things future, present. 
The mighty mastery of this power over all the 
energies of the inner man, is not to be over- 
estimated. It serves to bring everything in- 
to it< place — to give all things their true rel- 
ative proportion ; to make the little, little — 
and the great, great; the grand, grand — and 



HIS DETERMINATION OF PURPOSE. 129 

the insignificant, insignificant ; the temporal, 
temporal — and the eternal, eternal ; the hu- 
man, human — and the divine, divine. It 
gives a man a " right judgment in all things." 
It will sway his desires, and determine his 
choice. How illustriously we see this prin- 
ciple exemplified in the character of David ! 
Surrounded with all the fascinations and se- 
ductions of his palace and his empire, he yet 
could exclaim — " One thing have I' desired 
of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may 
dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of 
my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, 
and to inquire in his temple." In him was 
thus fulfilled the promise made of God to his 
people by the prophet — " I will give them one 
heart and one way" — unity of purpose, result- 
ing in uniformity of life. But if there be one 
human character which, more than all others, 
illustrates the glorious force of the high pur- 
pose which a commanding faith inspires, it 
is the character of the apostle Paul. From 
the hour when he tremblingly cried, "Lord, 
what wilt thou have me to do ?" to the hour 
when he said, "I am now ready to be offer- 
ed," — he was borne along by its resistless 
energy. Hearken to his own description of 
the singleness of his aim, and the indomi- 
tableness of his pursuit. "Yea doubtless, 



130 A MODBX K>B MEN OF Bl 

and I count all things btlt loss for the excel- 
lency of the knowledge of Christ Jeans my 
Lord : for whom I have suffered the loss of 
all things, and do count them hut dung, that 
I may win Christ, and be found in him, not 
htfving mine own righteousness, which is of 
the law, but that which is through the faith 
of Christ, the righteousness which is of God 
by faith: that I may know him, and the 
power of his resurrection, and the fellowship 
of his sufferings, being made conformable 
unto his death ; if by any means I might 
attain unto the resurrection of the dead. 
Not as though I had already attained, either 
were already perfect : but I follow after, if 
that I may apprehend that for which also I 
am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, 
I count not myself to have apprehended : 
but this one thing I do, forgetting those 
things which are behind, and reaching forth 
unto those things which are before, T press 
toward the mark for the prize of the high 
calling of God in Christ Jesus." Glorious 
al >s< >rption of the soul ! Sublime supremacy 
of faith! No marvel that he could at last 
hear witness — " I have fought a good fight, 
I have finished my course, I have kept the 
faith ; henceforth there is laid up for me a 
crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the 



HIS DETERMINATION OF PURPOSE. 131 

righteous judge, will give me in that clay." 
The man thus swallowed up in the high de- 
sign of life, soars above the insignificant 
things, the laborious trifling, in which so 
many waste their energies. He bids away 
from him the allurements of the world, the 
blandishments of the flesh, and the entice- 
ments of the devil, when they would divert 
him from his lofty career, by the greatness 
of the work in which he is engaged. This 
he feels must be attended to, whatever is 
neglected — this secured, whatever is placed 
in jeopardy. All that would hinder him in 
working out his own salvation with fear and 
trembling, he will cast behind him ; all that 
is conducive to that end, he will steadily 
pursue. Living according to this rule, gives 
an earnestness, a reality, a consistency to the 
life, which nothing else can impart. Time 
will never hang heavy on the hands of one 
so employed; an object of surpassing great- 
ness, motives of constraining power, will 
never be wanting to him; the commonest 
duties will be invested with dignity, and the 
most secular occupations stamped with sa- 
credness. Whatsoever his hand shall find 
to do, he will do it with his might. He will 
run for glory — he will toil for immortality. 
Constancy of purpose gives weight and 



L8I A MOOKL BOB KEN OF BUSINESS. 

force to Christian character. Men are influ- 
enced — wonderfully influenced by it. The 
world respects it, even though it enven- 
oms their hatred. Bad men are overawed, 
and good men emboldened, by its influ- 
ence. A fickle Christian belies his princi- 
ples; a determined one adorns them, lie 
ought to be firm as a rock who has God 
enthroned within him. 

Neither will anything conduce more to a 
wholesome self-respect and self-confidence 
than this oneness of design. There is a self- 
respect and self-reliance which is no better 
than a proud delusion. But there is a self- 
respect, springing out of consciousness of 
singleness of purpose, and of integrity of 
heart, which, while it is consistent with all 
humility, is essential to holy boldness. Such 
was the spirit of St. Paul when he said — 
"Our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our 
conscience ; that in simplicity and godly 
sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by 
the grace of God, we have had our conver- 
sation in the world." Assured of the integ- 
rity of his heart, as evinced in the simplicity 
of his aim, he enjoyed a glorious liberty, a 
confidence which made him not ashamed. 

Bow little of this sublime determination 
of Christian purpose is to be met with in the 






HIS DETERMINATION OF PURPOSE. 133 

Christian world ! How often does the char- 
acter change with the changing circumstan- 
ces of life ! How frequently do men borrow 
their tint from the light or shadow which 
falls upon them, instead of exhibiting the 
same unvarying color in the sunshine as in 
the shade ! How many are " ever learning, 
and never coming to the knowledge of the 
truth !" Of multitudes it must be said, as 
St. Paul said of the Galatians, " I stand in 
doubt of you." In these soft and silken days 
of lax profession, nothing is more needed 
in the Church than nerve and bone and 
sinew — vividness of conviction evinced in 
steadiness of career. Let there be more of 
this material in our piety, and the ungodly 
and the scoffing will acknowledge that God 
is among us of a truth ; the world will bow 
before the power of the soldiers of the cross. 
But while the children of this world are all 
earnestness in pursuing their shadows, and we 
all heartlessness in pursuing our infinite re- 
alities, is it to be wondered at that the world 
should have an overmastering sway, and the 
Church exert but a feeble influence ? Con- 
sistency is mighty ; inconsistency, weak. 
The Christian ought to be staid. It is his 
prerogative to be independent of all things, 
because dependent on God alone. It is his 



L34 A MODEL FOR MEN Or BUSINESS. 

privilege to govern circumstances, rather 
than to be governed by them. It is his, not 
<>nlv to bring every imagination into captiv- 
ity to the obedience of Ohrist, but to bring 
into captivity to that obedience all the vicissi- 
tudes of life, all the social influences to which 
he may he exposed, all the temptations by 
which he may be assailed. Serving one mas- 
ter, he should find that service perfect free- 
dom ; free to obey, he should be free indeed. 

Young men embarked on the waves of 
business, set your helm for the port of sal- 
vation; steer according to the chart of God's 
word and by the polar star of faith ; urge on 
your way, fearless of consequences, regard- 
less of sneers ! He is with you in your bark, 
who saved of old the little ship which was 
tossed on the sea of Galilee. He will keep 
you from foundering in the billows, or shiv- 
ering on the rocks ; and will at last moor 
your vessel safely in the haven, where the 
u wicked cease from troubling, and the weary 
are at rest." 

Firmness of purpose should distinguish 
the Christian in everything. As in the su- 
preme, so in the subordinate concerns of 
life he should be steadfast. There are good 
men, true to the sen ice of their Saviour, yet 
irresolute and fitful in their earthly pur- 






HIS DETERMINATION OF PURPOSE. 135 

suits. This is not as it ought to be : — the 
good man ought to be a pattern of steadi- 
ness in all things, whether in the count- 
ing-house or behind the counter, in the 
workshop or in the sanctuary, in transactions 
of business or in the endearments of friend- 
ship. It is not to the honor of his vocation 
if he is characterized by infirmity of pur- 
pose — if men cannot reckon on his behavior 
in the minutest things. Even in secular 
matters, a Christian should strive to be con- 
sistent, to aim at a character which is not a 
piece of patchwork, but a garment of the 
same weft and warp throughout. This gives 
weight — dignity- — influence. Let him, on 
his fidelity to God, give no occasion for it to 
be said that the godly man of business is a 
fickle or an undiscerning man — that his re- 
ligion spoils him for the engagements of life. 
Far from it ! A Christian ought to be pre- 
scient in design — for Christianity clears the 
intellect ; tenacious in purpose — for Christi- 
anity imparts firmness to the judgment; 
and steady in pursuit — because Christianity 
sustains the spirit. 

Write, therefore, on your scene of occupa- 
tion, O Christian! the heavenly rule — "Not 
slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving 
the Lord." Serve the Lord in your secular 



136 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BISIM 

concerns, and whatever your hand findeth 
to do you will do it with your might The 

spring of your activity will always be elastic. 
How graceful has been the career of some of 
our ( ihristian merchants! From the time that 
they entered on the duties of the counting- 
house, they walked as became the gospel of 
Christ ; while they maintained the inner life 
of the soul amid all the distraction and bus- 
tle of business, they manifested that life in 
their decision of character, steadiness of 
purpose, serenity of spirit — their punctuality 
in all their engagements, and their exacti- 
tude in all their transactions. Steering for 
heaven, they followed one pole-star, and 
pursued one course. Such men are the 
lights of the exchange. — the moral heroes of 
commerce. They adorn the Church, and 
win from the world a reluctant admiration. 

The examples of such men should be emu- 
lated by the young men of the Church ; to 
the rising race of Christian men of business 
we would commend its consideration. Let 
such especially heed the admonition of the 
Preacher: "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to 
do, do it with thy might." The path of toil 
is the path to excellence, and the law of dili- 
gence is the law of happiness. An indolent 
man cannot fail to be an unhappy man — a 



HIS DETERMINATION OF PURPOSE. 137 

diligent one can scarcely be miserable : such 
is the law of nature, and the law of nature is 
the law of God. Not only must plans be 
laid down ; they must also be accomplished. 
To realize a design, is to gain fresh moral 
strength : to abandon an undertaking, is to 
impair self-reliance, and enfeeble the nerve 
of the soul. It is of vital concern, therefore, 
in the culture of our spirits— that most 
essential of all cultivation — that we should 
always " be zealously affected in a good 
thing." There ought to be no blanks in 
life — when one undertaking is finished, let 
another be begun. The irons should be 
always in the fire. Let him that is not 
bound to toil for his bread, take heed not to 
convert this advantage into a snare. Rather 
let him be all the more diligent in doing 
good : " to whom much is given, of the 
same much will be required." Neither let 
the man of business, w T ho toiled devotedly 
in the counting-house or the manufactory, 
when he retires from business be less devo- 
ted in the prosecution of his heavenly call- 
ing, less earnest in " serving his generation 
according to the will of God." The hope of 
doing good ought to animate more than all 
the hopes of successful speculation or ac- 
cumulating gain. Zeal for God is urgently 



138 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

needed The great necessity of the Church 

is nol money, but men. u Thc harvest truly 
is plenteous, but the laborers are few." We 

Wanl an earnest Church to make a happy 
World. Christians, and especially Christian 
men of business, have no right to live to 
themselves. "None of us liveth to himself, 
and no man dietli to himself." Let not 
such, then, provoke the startling question, 
"Why stand ye here all the day idle ?" Life 
is all too short for life's great work. We are 
not designed to be like the gay butterfly, that 
sports in the sunshine and then perishes ; 
but like the thrifty bee, that flies to and fro, 
but it is to gather the sweet store which she 
treasures up against the winter season, and 
who, as a consequence, survives in the stor- 
my day. We must settle it in our minds, 
wherever we go, whatever we do, each one 
for himself, — "In all, through all, above 

ALL, I MUST WORK OUT MY OWN SALVATION. 

I must follow my Saviour's steps, and secure 
my Saviour's approval. A steward with 
certain talents committed to me, my one high 
aim must be to hear my Master say at last — 
' Well done, thou good and faithful servant ; 
thou hast been faithful over a few things, I 
will make thee ruler over many things : enter 
thou into the joy of thy Lord." May the 



HIS DETERMINATION OF PURPOSE. 139 

anticipated sound of these words be ever 
ringing in our consciences — be ever quick- 
ening us to run " with patience the race that 
is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the 
author and finisher of our faith." May not 
our earthly concerns secularize us, but rather 
may we spiritualize them. Our worldly av- 
ocations must be converted into a heavenly 
discipline. They must exercise our faith, 
meekness, charity, truth, uprightness ; so 
may we be strengthening the inner man 
by the toils of the warehouse, as well 
as by the devotions of the closet and the 
sanctuary. 

Energy of faith is the spring of earnest- 
ness of life. When the things unseen 
mightily impress, and the love of Christ 
mightily constrains, then there will be a 
lofty decision of character: then will the 
world, with its impertinences, its blandish- 
ments, its vexations, and its artifices, be 
kept in its proper place. However it may 
beset or assail, whether it threaten or allure, 
it is effectually repulsed by the majestic re- 
ply — " I am doing a great work, so that I 
cannot come down : why should the work 
cease while I leave it and come down to 
you V' To those who are thus occupied, how 
appropriate is the address of the great 



140 A IfODBL FOR MEN OF BU8DODM. 

Apostle, himself the besi example of this 
Lofty determinatioD of purpose — "Here- 
fore, my beloved brethren, be ye stead- 
fast, immovable, always abounding In the 

work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know 
that vour labor is not in vain in the 
lord." 



UPRIGHTNESS IN DEALINGS. 14:1 



CHAPTER YII. 

UPRIGHTNESS IN DEALINGS. 

The perfection of a painting is its keeping. 
The perfection of a building is its architec- 
tural proportion and symmetry. Nothing 
can make amends for a fault in this respect. 
As it is in things material, so it is in things 
moral. The perfection of a character is its 
unity and congruity. Study the character 
of Him who presents to us the only spotless 
character that the world ever beheld — study 
the character of Immanuel, and you will 
find that its crowning excellency is its 
unity and harmony. In speaking of his 
servants we speak of their distinguishing 
graces ; we cannot so speak in speaking of 
the Master. He had no distinctive virtues, 
for distinctive virtues are such as stand out 
beyond the proportion of the rest. But in 
him every virtue was so exquisitely balanced 
and adjusted, that you cannot say he was 
more just than true, or more true than char- 
itable, or more charitable than intolerant of 
evil. In the character of Jesus everything 
is so symmetrical, that you may compare it 



1 U A K0DHL FOB MKN OF BUSINESS. 

to the beautiful bow — that emblem of the 
tenant of grace— in which all the primi- 
tive colors melt into each other with such 
perfect harmony, that no one of them over- 
uother, but all equally delight the 
eye. Now, just in so for as a follower of 
rist attains to the measure of the stature 
of the fullness of Christ, will he resemble 
his Lord in this perfection. He will not be 
-imply a man of prayer, or simply a man 
of practical integrity; he will be both in 
lovely unison. He will be in the closet 
what he is in the market-place, and in the 
market-place what he is in the closet. He 
will be before God what he is before man — 
such, at least, will be his aim. He will 
never set up one class of duties in opposition 
to another, nor look upon the performance 
of a few as a counterpoise to the neglect of 
the rest. His aim and his effort w T ill be, 
to "have respect to all" the command- 
ments of God, from the least to the greatest 
— if we may presume to graduate precepts 
which are alike enjoined by the same sov- 
eign authority. Sad is it wdien men who 
" name the name of Christ," divorce what 
dod lias united; some speaking of them- 
selves bci evangelical, in contrast to being 
moral ; and others as being moral, in con- 



UPRIGHTNESS IN DEALINGS. 143 

trast to being evangelical. Such antagon- 
isms have no place in the economy of grace ; 
jthey are the figments of human passion and 
prejudice. According to the glorious gos- 
pel, no man is truly moral that is not evan- 
gelical, and none honestly evangelical that 
is not truly moral. 

From the root of grace, through the stem of 
faith, there stretch forth two main branches; 
the one the love of God, the other the love 
of our neighbor. From these two shoot out 
and depend all the ramifications of obedi- 
ence. Where the one is not, neither is the 
other ; and where the one is found, you 
may be sure the other is not wanting. 
How beautifully were they combined in 
the character of Cornelius! "His prayers 
and his alms came up for a memorial 
before God ;" there was devotion toward 
God, there was bountifulness toward man. 

TTe trace the same beautiful combination 
in the character which we are endeavoring 
to portray in these pages ; the character of 
him who is preeminently a man of faith 
and piety. 'We have in the foregoing chap- 
ters explored the secrets of his closet; we 
have penetrated into the recesses of his soul; 
we have examined the deep spring of all the 
energy and magnanimity of his career ; we 



144 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

have seen how he walks and communes with 
God. But he is a man of probity and char- 
ity, no less than of piety and prayer; and 
we delight especially to contemplate the be- 
nign influence of his devotional spirit, and 
the living efficacy of his godly fear, as mani- 
fested in all the diversified duties of secular 
life : now sustaining him under every diffi- 
culty ; now emboldening him against every 
assailant ; now securing him from every se- 
duction. 

No topic can be more practical or more 
pertinent to a commercial community than 
the moral relations of pecuniary transactions. 
If the sins that easily beset men vary ac- 
cording to the circumstances that surround 
them, the sins that will most easily beset 
mercantile men will be the sins to which 
they are specially exposed by their mercan- 
tile circumstances. It is, therefore, but rea- 
sonable to presume that, in a community 
where every man is in some degree a traf- 
ficker, trespasses against the strict law of 
uprightness will be peculiarly prevalent. 
Consequently, the avoidance of such offenses 
will constitute one of the clearest evidences 
of the sincerity of our godliness ; and the 
commission of them, one of the surest signs 
that we have no religion of the heart. For 



UPRIGHTNESS IN DEALINGS. 145 

if any one wishes to apply a touchstone to 
character, let him take this as the most 
searching— the exercise of those graces 
which a man is most tempted to neglect, 
and the eschewal of those iniquities which a 
man is most tempted to indulge. He who 
can stand this test, is sterling in the sight of 
God. 

In treating so appropriate a subject, it 
may be needful to enter into more than or- 
dinary minuteness of detail. Nor should it 
be deemed a descent from the dignity and 
solemnity of our theme to endeavor to carry 
home that " commandment which is exceed- 
ing broad" into all the ramifications of com- 
mercial transaction. 

We will, then, first of all, lay down some 
of the great principles which ought to gov- 
ern the Christian in his mercantile career. 
"We shall then strive to point out some of the 
deviations from these principles which are 
the most plausible, and therefore the most 
perilous. We shall afterward show how 
important it is to cleave unswervingly to 
the path of integrity and truth, despite of 
every enticement, and in defiance of all that 
the world may say or do. And let it not be 
thought that these considerations refer to 

extensive capitalists only — to leading mer- 
10 



146 A HOTEL BOB WBB OF BCSZF] 

chants and manufacturers. They arc no less 
;ihm1 for subordinates than for principals 

— for the servant than for the master. They 
bear alike on all — on the faithful in little, as 
well as on the faithful in much; on the un- 
just in little, as well as on the unjust in 
much. It is not the amount of the gain of 
injustice that constitutes the sin; it is the 
deviation from integrity in which the trans- 
gression lies. 

The first principle by which a Christian 
tradesman ought to regulate his transactions 
is — To love his neighbor as himself. "Love 
is the fulfilling of the law ;" " love w r orketh 
no ill to his neighbor ;" therefore, love se- 
cures effectually the accomplishment of the 
commandment. To love our neighbor as 
ourselves, is to have the same regard and 
affection for him that we cherish for our- 
selves ; so that his interest, his well-being, 
/us success, shall he dear to us as our own ; 
and hi$ sorrows, his losses, Ids distresses, his 
disappointments) shall be felt by us as even 
rwr own. Will you say — "This is a stand- 
ard utterly beyond our attainment?" If it 
is, indeed, beyond our attainment, it ought 
not to be beyond our aim — nay, it is a stand- 
ard which every Christian must strive to 
reach. We must not lower the precept to 



UPRIGHTNESS IN DEALINGS. 147 

our defective attainments, but labor to bring 
up our attainments to the precept. The 
authority which binds the injunction upon 
us, forbids our attempting to relax its strin- 
gency. He that said, " Thou shalt love the 
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with 
all thy soul, and w r ith all thy strength," said 
also, " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy- 
self." The question, therefore, is not what 
we can attain, but what God requires. Per- 
fection must be our goal, though imperfec- 
tion will be the present result of our efforts. 
We may love that to which we cannot yet 
attain, and loathe that from which we can- 
not yet get wholly free. Ceaselessly ought 
we to struggle to counteract that selfishness 
which was the chief cause of the fall, and 
which so powerfully serves to keep us fallen. 
We must show no mercy to that desire, to 
make everything contribute to our own 
pleasure and advantage irrespectively of the 
interests of others, which has taken such 
root in our heart. We must deny ourselves 
that we may benefit others. Self-love must 
be supplanted by the love of our neighbor. 
Benevolence alone can subdue the idolatrous 
love of self. 

The next great principle which ought to 
pervade all our intercourse with our fellows 



148 A HOpEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

is — ^ Whatsoever ye would that men should 
do to you, do ye even so to them." What 
condescension in the great Lawgiver, that he 
should not only give us the details of our 
duty, but that he should also give us sundry 
summaries of his will — summaries so plain 
that the simplest reason may understand 
them, and so compendious that the feeblest 
memory may retain them ! As hi commerce 
an immense sum is sometimes represented 
by a small note ; so in the Scripture we fre- 
quently find a code of morals condensed into 
a sentence. Thus it is in the golden maxim 
on which w r e are dwelling. Only let a man 
carry out this rule with an honest conscience 
in his daily transactions, and he will seldom 
be puzzled with points of casuistry. As on 
no occasion can it be inapplicable, so on no 
occasion, if fairly used, can it mislead. No 
doubt, indeed, it is often perverted and mis- 
interpreted. The poor man distorts it, when 
he holds that it binds the rich man to give 
him all that he may choose to ask ; and 
the rich misunderstand it, when they set it 
aside as hyperbolical and impracticable. 
But understand the rule in its two-fold bear- 
ing, and you will perceive that it acts like 
the governor or fly-wheel in one of our in- 
genious pieces of machinery — it maintains 



UPEIGHTNESS IN DEALINGS. 149 

the balance between antagonistic forces. 
Let a man study and cherish that content- 
ment and moderation of mind which w r ill 
lead him to expect from others only what is 
fair and reasonable, and then others will- 
have no right to demand from him anything 
more than what is right and equitable. The 
precept is designed to control our personal 
desires, as well as to regulate our dealings 
with our neighbor. Exorbitant expectation 
violates the canon, even as it is broken by 
unrighteous dealing. This exquisite princi- 
ple, therefore, has a two-fold action. It tells 
upon a man by moderating his wishes, no 
less than by influencing his treatment of 
those with whom he has to do ; so that he 
has only to conform to the rule in its double 
bearing, and he may steer by it, as by an 
infallible compass, through all the intricacies 
of social intercourse. 

In fulfilling one's duty toward his neigh- 
bor, care must be used to cherish a further 
principle of paramount moment — to be faith- 
ful in the little, even as in the great — to 
shrink from the lighter, as well as from the 
darker shades of dishonesty. He who de- 
spises little things, will fall by little and little. 
The guilt of transgressing is to be measured 
by the willfulness, rather than by the degree 



150 A MODEL FOE MEN OF BUSINESS. 

of transgression. He who deliberately of- 
fends on a small scale, only lacks boldness 
or opportunity to commit a more flagrant 
offense. The poor man who defrauds his 
master of the time for which he is paid, or 
who uses the property of his emploj^er waste- 
fully, betrays the germ of the grossest dis- 
honesty. On the other hand, the master 
who, while ostentatiously honorable in his 
transactions with his equals, takes stealthy 
advantage of his servants, and, instead of 
giving them "that which is just and equal," 
screws them down to the uttermost in their 
wages, or exercises his ingenuity in contriv- 
ing pretexts for abatements from their gains 
— this man adds hypocrisy to his fraudulency. 
In truth, the best test of godly integrity is 
the little, not the great — if a man be faithful 
in the former, he can hardly be unfaithful in 
the latter. He who shows his principle in 
avoiding grosser, while he indulges in slight- 
er deviations from uprightness, proves his 
principle to be earthly, not heavenly — taught 
by the fear of man, not by the love of God. 
The Lord estimates the guilt of the tres- 
pass, not by the magnitude of the act, but 
by the defiance of his authority which it 
involve-. 

Profane men have dared to sneer at the 



UPRIGHTNESS IN DEALINGS. 151 

fact, that man lost paradise, and incurred 
eternal death, by partaking of the forbidden 
fruit; and they have presumed to arraign 
the punishment as utterly disproportionate 
to the crime. Yet, in very deed, the small- 
ness of the temptation may be regarded as 
the gauge of the depth of the faithlessness 
and rebellion of the creature in disobeying 
his Creator. The slightness of the induce- 
ment to violate the prohibition, enhances 
instead of alleviates the turpitude of the 
violation. The more gentle the test of loy- 
alty, the more aggravated the heinousness of 
disloyalty. But if God doomed a world to 
death for what some deem a small transgres- 
sion — what shall be thought of the man who 
makes light of petty dishonesties, and how 
shall he stand before His judgment-seat who 
has said, "Whosoever shall keep the whole 
law, and yet offend m one point, he is guilty 
of all?" 

Such, then, are the principles which must 
constitute the platform of the Christian's 
everyday course and conversation, if he 
would approve himself in His sight, whose 
he is, and whom he delights to serve. Let 
us next endeavor, with all faithfulness, to 
consider some of the less obvious deviations 
from these principles which pass current in 



152 A MODBL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

the mercantile world, amid all its boasted 
moralitv. 

How common is it for men to defraud so- 
ciety by idleness and self-indulgence ! An 
indolent man is not simply a negative char- 
acter, he is a positive injury to others, lie 
robs the community of its rights, and God 
of his service. The "slothful servant" 
is denounced as a "wicked servant" — the 
man who hid his lord's money as having 
wronged his master. The idle man is a 
cumberer of the ground ; he wastes the soil 
where a fruitful tree might flourish. Yet 
how seldom is slothfulness reputed a crime ! 

Another prevalent, widely ramified, and 
subtly-disguised class of dishonesty, is that 
which is either committed, or connived at, 
by public bodies. What, commonly, more 
vague and elastic than a corporate con- 
science ? Men will do and sanction in part- 
nership what they would recoil from in their 
individual capacity — as though shared re- 
sponsibility were diminished responsibility, 
or guilt incurred with a crowd could be 
cloaked by the crowd. But what saith the 
Scripture? "Every man shall bear his own 
burden;" "so, then, each one of us shall 
give account of himself to God." And as 
men will deal in bodies as they would not 



UPRIGHTNESS IN DEALINGS. 153 

individually, so will they deal with bodies 
as they would not with individuals. How 
much equivocation, chicanery, and subter- 
fuge, are practiced in relation to the claims 
of civil government? By many, to elude 
those claims is thought to be at most a ve- 
nial fault. Yet God himself has vindicated 
the rights of the community. "Tribute to 
whom tribute is due ;" " custom to whom 
custom," is his decision. The very same 
law that binds a man not to cheat his neigh- 
bor, forbids him to cheat the commonwealth 
which throws its shield around his life and 
property. " The powers that be are ordain- 
ed of God;" and he who instituted the 
powers ordained the means for their main- 
tenance. Yet, obvious as is the duty of sub- 
mitting cheerfully to the impositions of the 
state, you cannot be conversant with the 
ways of the world, and not know how ex- 
tensively taxes are evaded, how frequently 
false returns of property are made, how art- 
fully the excise and the customs are in num- 
berless instances defrauded. You are aware 
with what skill and adroitness some who 
thus practice deceit contrive to elude detec- 
tion ; while others, glorying in their shame, 
will even plume themselves on the clever- 
ness they have displayed in cheating the 



L64 A MODEL FOB Mix OF r.rsiM 

revenue. Cleverness I It is a cleverness 
from beneath. 
Contemplate another Held of fraud less 

Startling, and therefore more insidious than 
the former. By selfish extravagance, or 

rash speculations, what numbers subject 
themselves to liabilities which their re- 
sources do not warrant, or plunge into debts 
which they have no prospect of discharg- 
ing! It is not uncommon for the commer- 
cial world to be shaken, convulsed, dislo- 
cated, by the gambling spirit which seems 
periodically to take possession of it, impelling 
men to stake all upon a throw. In their 
haste to be rich, they leave principle and 
prudence behind them. Bent on their own 
enrichment, they have no regard for the in- 
terests of others. No doubt there is a whole- 
some enterprise in business which ought not 
to be discouraged, and to which a certain 
range and latitude must be accorded; but 
when that range and latitude intrench on 
the rights of others, they intrench, however 
stealthily, on the law of God. It is not 
enough that a man's intentions are honest — 
his measures must be prudent. While in- 
tegrity actuate-, wisdom must restrain. I 
do not deny thai a man of integrity may be 
unsuccessful in his plans, that insolvency 



UPRIGHTNESS IN DEALINGS. 155 

may overtake him unawares ; lie may find 
himself involved in difficulties which he 
could not avert, and embarrassments which 
he could not foresee ; and he may shine all 
the more brightly by his conduct in such 
circumstances. But when a man launches 
out into speculations far beyond the margin 
of his capital, or when he indulges in a style 
of living which he has no income to justify, 
then at once is he making shipwreck of up- 
rightness, he is sacrificing others to himself. 
" Owe no man anything," is as much a di- 
vine precept as "Thou shalt not steal," or, 
" Thou shalt do no murder." Fearful is the 
amount of inconsistency which, when tried 
by this standard, many who name the name 
of Christ betray ; by reason of whom " the 
way of truth is evil spoken of," and the gain- 
say er is hardened in his unbelief. " Let us 
judge ourselves" in these things, "that we 
be not judged of the Lord." " Happy is he 
that condemneth not himself in that which 
he alloweth." 

Then, again, how diversified the deceptions 
practiced in trade for the purpose of taking 
advantage of the purchaser ! Inferior arti- 
cles are made to wear a superior appearance ; 
old and damaged goods are vamped up, and 
glossed over, that they may pass for new; 



156 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

domestic manufactures are sold as foreign; 
the names of certain makers are attached to 
articles which they never made; false rep- 
resentations are given of the cost of produce, 
or the state of the markets; the unpracticed 
dealer is charged more than the accomplish- 
ed trafficker; prices are regulated by what 
can be obtained, rather than by the real 
worth of that which is sold. These things 
are the curse and canker of business — a moral 
leprosy which taints the community. How 
hardly shall a faithful tradesman keep him- 
self pure ! How great watchfulness he re- 
quires, that he may not be " partaker of 
other men's sins !" 

On the other hand, how r frequently will 
the buyer avail himself of the necessities of 
the seller ; force him to forego his legitimate 
profit, or disparage and depreciate his goods, 
in order that he may beat down their price. 
It is still as it was in the days of the wise 
man : " It is naught, it is naught, saith the 
buyer) but when he is gone his way, then 
he boasteth." 

And what shall we say of the various 
ways in which articles of merchandise are 
adulterated I The production of spurious 
and counterfeit goods forms an extensive 
branch of manufacture. And to such a 



UPRIGHTNESS IN DEALINGS. 157 

pitch has this species of fraud been carried 
in some departments, that a strictly honest 
man often finds it most difficult to stand his 
ground against such fraudulent competition. 
In all this, a two-fold guilt is incurred- — the 
guilt of dishonesty, and the guilt of deceit. 
To cover the violation of the eighth com- 
mandment, the ninth is tacitly, if not ex- 
pressly, violated. A lie is acted, if it be not 
uttered ; and an acted lie is at least as bad 
as a spoken lie. Nor is this all ; the subor- 
dinates are usually implicated in the guilt 
of the principals; indeed, the latter will 
sometimes require the former to do what 
they would shrink from doing themselves. 
Pitiful subterfuge ! What a man does by 
another he does himself; yea, and such em- 
ployers are far more criminal than the agents 
whom they employ. Not content with 
serving Satan themselves, they become his 
allies in enslaving their dependents. Not 
satisfied with selling their own consciences, 
they traffic in the consciences of others. As 
though it were not enough to practice deceit, 
they become manufacturers of deceivers. 
These things are too notorious to be denied, 
too flagrant to be passed over in silence. Nor 
is the dark catalogue of social injustice yet 
filled up. How often do masters oppress 



158 A BfODEE W>B MEN OF r.rsiNi 

the servant and the hireling in their wages! 
Instead of u giving them that which is equal 
and right," they strive to beat and screw 
down their hire to the uttermost, taking ad- 
vantage of their necessities. Yet if there be 
one kind of fraud more dastardly, dishonor- 
able, and aggravated than another, it is that 
which wrests from the laboring man the fair 
recompense of the sweat of his brow — the 
very price of his sinews, his flesh, and his 
blood. "The Lord is the avenger of all 
such, as we also have forewarned you and 
testified." Is it not notorious, that in too 
many instances wages are the first, instead 
of the last, thing to be retrenched when 
times are unfavorable? Are not employers, 
with some honorable exceptions, far more 
ready to lower wages when trade is bad, 
tli an to raise them when trade is good ? 
How seldom do the workmen share propor- 
tionally in the prosperity of their master? 
Hardest and meanest of all is it, when, as is 
sometimes the case, under the pretext that 
hi- work has been damaged or deficient, 
heavy abatements of the remuneration of 
his toil are forced on the hapless artisan, 
who has no alternative but to submit to the 
wrong, or to be thrown out of employment. 
At all events, little hope can the poor and 



UPRIGHTNESS IN DEALINGS. 159 

the weak have in contending against the rich 
and the strong. As a consequence, there 
often follows a fearful retaliation ; the work- 
people, smarting under unmerited imputa- 
tions, and goaded on by a sense of wrong, 
take the law into their own hands, and fancy 
that they are warranted to do wdiat they 
have been falsely charged with doing, and 
are justified in taking stealthily what they 
ought in fairness to receive. Thus, injustice 
on the one side begets injustice on the other. 
But it must not be forgotten, that however 
guilty the dependent who has in this way 
been disciplined into dishonesty, sevenfold 
heavier is his guilt who made him dishonest. 
How would all this be averted if only and 
always the master were to deal with the 
servant, and the servant with the master, as 
each would desire to be dealt with by the 
other, were their relation inverted ! 

Much shade might still be added to this 
dark picture, were we to explore, the ram- 
ified injustice and unfaithfulness which so 
often disgrace trusteeships and executor- 
ships. What sad scenes and stories here 
crowd on the mind — the interests of the 
helpless and dependent cruelly neglected, 
the confidence which friendship reposed in 
the undeserving shamefully betrayed. O! 



160 A MODKL VOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

how do the sighs of the widow and the tears 
of the fatherless cry, and their "cries are en- 
tered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth !" 
Fearful must be the retribution which awaits 
those who, instead of defending the cause of 
the fatherless and widow, take advantage of 
their weakness to bereave and oppress them. 
But I w r ill not pursue this melancholy train 
of illustration any further. Enough has been 
said to remind all wdio will give heed of the 
perils which beset our social relationships, 
and to warn them not to "walk according 
to the course of this world." 

Christian reader, let me remind you how 
beautiful and blessed would be the state of 
society if all this were reversed — if, instead 
of the sordid maxim of the worldling holding 
true, "Where you find a man's interest there 
you will find the man," it could be said uni- 
versally, " Where you find a man's duty 
there you w T ill find the man." Why should 
it not bo, so with us all? Secular interest 
itself demands it at our hand. Honesty is 
the best policy. In the long run, the Up- 
right man will ordinarily be the successful 
man. Or, if he be not prosperous here, it is 
because God has better things in store for 
him hereafter, and trains him by earthly 
discipline for an enduring and undefiled in- 






UPRIGHTNESS IN DEALINGS. 161 

heritance. At all events, he will enjoy the 
melody of the testimony of a conscience 
void of offense — a melody which can glad- 
den the home of guileless penury, but for 
lack of which the costly mansion of fraud 
will have no true gladness. "Better a din- 
ner of herbs," the fruit of integrity, than a 
" stalled ox," imbittered by guilt : yea, and 
often even in this world God sets his brand 
on the gains of dishonesty. It is no uncom- 
mon thing to see wealth which had been 
doubtfully accumulated, melt away like snow 
before the summer's sun. Or else to find, 
that the usurious owner had heaped up rich- 
es and could not tell who should gather 
them ; for, either he leaves no descendants 
to inherit his wealth, or else his posterity 
squander in profligacy the stores for which 
he had sacrificed his conscience and his soul. 
Far more frequently than the heedless no- 
tice, is it thus made manifest, that "doubt- 
less there is a God that judgeth in the earth." 
A few more practical suggestions must 
close this chapter. How vain his expecta- 
tion who hopes, by meeting the requirements 
of the law, to stand acquitted before God ! 
Tried even by his favorite table — that which 
enjoins his duty toward man — is he not 
daily adjudged to be guilty? Can he plead 



16:2 a model for men of business. 

that he has always from his heart loved liis 
neighbor as himself, or done in all things to 
Others as he would have others do to him? 
Is it possible for self-love so to blind him, 
that lie should venture so to plead? But if 
he cannot justify himself in relation to the 
law as bearing upon his conduct toward his 
fellow-creatures, how can he hope to justify 
himself in relation to the law as bearing 
upon his conduct toward his Creator ? 
Surely, then, " by deeds of the law shall no 
man living be justified." Surely, u by the 
law is the knowledge of sin." Surely, " the 
law is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, 
that w r e may be justified by- faith ;" for " he 
is the end of the law for righteousness to 
every one that believeth." Surely, none 
can stand before the Judge of quick and 
dead, except that Judge have " blotted out 
as a thick cloud his transgressions, and as a 
cloud his sins." 

At the same time it must never be forgot- 
ten, that there will be repentance toward 
God whenever there is " faith toward our 
Lord Jesus Christ." Fruits meet for repent- 
ance will follow. Where this is the case, he 
that has done wrong w T ill strive to do so no 
more ; and where he can make reparation, 
reparation will be made. " Behold, Lord," 






UPRIGHTNESS IN DEALINGS. 163 

said the penitent and believing Zaccheus, 
" the half of my goods I give to the poor, 
and if I have taken anything from any man 
by false accusation, I restore him fourfold." 
Then said Jesus, "This day is salvation come 
to this house, forasmuch as he also is a son 
of Abraham" — a son not only after the flesh 
but also " after the Spirit," because possessed 
of the living faith of Abraham — a faith fruit- 
ful in all good works. The Christian must 
aim high. He ought not to come down to 
the standard of the world, but strive to attain 
to the standard of Christ, remembering the 
declaration, " Ye are a chosen generation, a 
royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar 
people." "What, then, do ye more than 
others?" In the counting-house or on the 
exchange, in the manufactory or in the 
workshop, let men be compelled to " take 
knowledge of him that he has been with 
Jesus " — not by much talking about religion 
out of place, but by his acting on its princi- 
ples and carrying out its precepts in all his 
dealings and relations. The ordinary busi- 
ness of life should be penetrated with the 
spirit of the gospel. " Be not partakers of 
other men's sins." "Keep yourselves pure." 
Our inquiry should be, not what is customary, 
but what is right. In pursuing such a 



164 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

course one may have to suffer from unscru- 
pulous competition, be may have to forego 
tempting advantages, he may see no pros- 
pect of success — but let him not be anxious. 
Let him bear in mind what the prophet an- 
swered the king of Judah when he asked, 
" But what shall we do for the hundred 
talents which I have given to the army of 
Israel?" "The Lord is able to give you 
much more than this." So ought men to 
reckon that He whom they serve can give 
them manifold more than they lose for his 
sake, even in this world, and in the world to 
come life everlasting. Above all, let each 
realize that as it would profit him nothing to 
gain the whole world and lose his own soul, 
so it will disadvantage him little, if he lose 
the whole world and save his own soul. 
May our treasure be in heaven ! 

" Let integrity be the guide of your life." 
" If riches increase, set not your heart upon 
them ;" if they diminish, let not your heart 
be troubled. How much better is honorable 
poverty than dishonorable opulence ! Woe 
to the " men of the world, who have their 
portion in this world ;" but blessed are they 
who are " as poor, yet making many rich ; 
as having nothing, and yet possessing all 
things." 



UPRIGHTNESS IN DEALINGS. 165 

There are few characters more honorable 
or more useful than that of the Christian 
man of business, who sets an example of 
truth, of uprightness, and of diligence ; and 
who labors to have a conscience void of of- 
fense toward God and man. Mercantile 
men of this description are the salt of the 
commercial world, and "the substance" of 
the nation. God grant that the number of 
such men may be greatly multiplied ! and 
may the reader be of that number! 



166 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

FORTITUDE IN DUTY. 

By our Christian baptism we are form- 
ally united to Christ; and among the great 
designs of that holy ordinance as to our- 
selves, is that it should serve for a " token 
that we should not thereafter be ashamed to 
confess the faith of Christ crucified, and 
manfully to fight under his banner against 
sin, the world, and the devil, and to continue 
Christ's faithful soldiers and servants unto 
our lives' end." As professed Christians, 
therefore, we are called to fight as soldiers, 
as well as to obey as servants. Indeed, we 
cannot do this without doing the other also ; 
for no man can serve God in this wicked 
world unless he contend in order that he may 
obey. But in a soldier there is no quality 
so shameful as cowardice, and no excellency 
so essential as courage. A cowardly soldier 
has no right to be in the army — a cowardly 
Christian has no right to be enrolled under 
the standard of the Captain of our salvation. 
Hence it is, that when St. Peter enumerates 
the chief graces which we are to give all 



FORTITUDE IN DUTY. 167 

diligence to attain, he places fortitude next 
to faith: "Giving all diligence," says he, 
" add to your faith virtue" — the primi- 
tive sense of the word employed in the 
original is valour ; even as in the Latin 
tongue, and in our own language, the word 
virtue originally signified courage — an ex- 
pressive fact, which indicates how closely 
the two qualities are allied. The Spirit of 
God thus proves, that the next thing to be- 
lieving in Christ in order that we may be 
saved, is boldnesss through Christ to avow 
that belief; for "with the heart man be- 
lieveth unto righteousness, and with the 
mouth confession is made unto salvation." 
If there be not, therefore, the courage to 
avouch Christ with the lip and in the life, 
the seal and superscription of the faith that 
saves is lacking. 

Mingling, as the Christian man of busi- 
ness necessarily does, in scenes of secu- 
lar distraction; brought into contact, day 
by day, with worldly and ungodly men; 
occupying his business in the midst of 
those who deride his principles and lie in 
wait to betray him; breathing an atmos- 
phere charged with false sentiments, false 
maxims, false feelings, — how much he needs 
to add to his faith, virtue, — to see to it that 



168 A MOm.L WOB KEN OF BUSINESS. 

while he is "not slothful in business, but 
ferwnt in spirit, serving the Lord," he is 
a]so "strong and of good courage," fighting 
manfully under the banner of his Lord, and 
confessing him before men. 

The nature of holy courage must be an- 
alyzed, in order that we may not misunder- 
stand its elements. It is not that natural 
bravery which belongs to some men consti- 
tutionally. This quality, if you examine it, 
resolves itself into little more than strength 
of nerve and robustness of animal spirits. 
It is found largely among our soldiery, 
and, in a thousand instances, apart from 
Christian principle. It is rather the brav- 
ery of the lion than the bravery of the 
mind and the man. There is, however, 
a courage of a far higher order — that which 
springs from a sense of honor, from a proud 
disdain of what is mean and pusillanimous 
— which dreads a spot more than a wound 
— a reproach more than a calamity. In 
this there is much that is specious and 
lovely, yet is it after all a plant of earthly 
growth — fair, but without abiding root. 
This is the heroism which captivates the 
world. They can appreciate; they can ad- 
mire it. They make it their standard ; they 
talk rapturously of heroes ; they well-nigh 



FORTITUDE IN DUTY. 169 

worship them. But, after all, sucli heroism, 
when weighed in the balances of Holy 
Scripture, is found utterly wanting. It is 
lacking in universality of influence — it is 
lacking in personal subjugation. Hence it 
is by no means uncommon to find a man 
who can conquer in battle, conquered him- 
self in the struggle with his own nature ; to 
find the victor vanquished, and the waraor 
who led others into captivity taken captive 
by his own corruptions. Some of the most 
valorous have been the most depraved ; and 
some who dragged their enemies at their 
chariot-wheels, have themselves been drag- 
ged through the mire of pollution by their 
own appetites and passions. The history of 
the world furnishes a thousand proofs that 
the hero of the battle-field is not always a 
hero in private life, and that worldly honor 
cannot save a man from sensual bondage. 
As the stream cannot rise higher than its 
fountain, neither can a moral quality rise 
higher than its principle. Earthly valor can- 
not raise a man above the earth; but the 
courage of a Christian springs from the fear 
of God, from " seeing him who is invisible," 
from realizing his omnipotent sovereignty, 
from prizing his favor more than life, and 
dreading his displeasure more than death. 



170 A MODEL FOB KEN OF BUSINESS. 

Hence the soldier of Christ is fearless to do 
right, fearful to do wrong — afraid to sin, but 
Dot afraid to Buffer. He dares not deviate 
from honesty, but lie dares encounter loss for 
being honest; he dares not tell a lie, but he 
dares to suffer for speaking the truth ; he dares 
not " make a mock at sin," but he dares set 
at naught the mockery of sinners ; he dares 
not " follow the multitude to do evil," but 
he dares to follow the commandments of 
God, though the whole world should threaten 
or assail. This exalted grace is exercised 
not more in withstanding the evil that is 
without, than in overcoming the evil that is 
within ; it displays itself most decisively in 
the believer's warfare with self; its noblest 
achievements are achievements on the bat- 
tle-field of the heart. Its exploits are often 
unknown save to God and conscience. Its 
triumphs are chronicled in the archives of 
heaven. 

The need and scope for this virtue amid 
the ordinary occupations of life, claim spe- 
cial attention. People are apt, when we 
speak of courage, to think of battle and of 
peril; and when we speak of fortitude, to 
think of bonds and imprisonments — the con- 
fessorta tortures and the martyr's stake. But 
heavenly heroism, whether it be active or 



FORTITUDE IN DUTY. 171 

passive, is constantly called into play where 
the world has no conception that it can be 
exercised. It is essential in order that a 
man may do the will of God— for to do that 
will is to master his own will ; and in order 
that he may "be spiritually minded, which 
is life and peace," he must mortify "the 
carnal mind, which is enmity against God." 
He, therefore, that will be a follower of 
God must take up arms against himself; 
he must enter into habitual conflict with his 
own nature. The very terms of his enlist- 
ment under the Captain of his salvation are, 
" to deny himself, and take up his cross 
daily, and follow Christ." But to do this, 
to crucify the flesh with the affections and 
lusts, to keep the body under, and to bring 
it into subjection — holding it down, as the 
wrestler does his antagonist when he has got 
him undermost, despite of all his spasmodic 
struggles to rise — yea, and not to wrestle 
against flesh and blood only, but " against 
principalities, against powers, against the 
rulers of the darkness of this world, against 
spiritual wickedness in high places;" io 
"quench all the fiery darts of the wicked," 
and face all the artillery of hell — this re- 
quires a mighty moral valor indeed : a cour- 
age, how far surpassing all the daring of 



178 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

the earthly warrior! "He that ruleth his 
own spirit, is greater than lie that taketh a 
city ; M and he that conquers himself, than he 
that conquers a kingdom. It was finely 
said by llichard Cecil, that "an humble 
Christian, battling against the world, the 
flesh, and the devil, is a greater hero than 
Alexander the Great." No doubt he is in 
the sight of angels. His record is on high. 
" He shall be a pillar in the temple of his 
God." Meanwhile, however, how protracted 
often, how wearying the warfare! There 
must be no truce — no suspension of hostili- 
ties. It will last while life lasts — it can be 
finished only when we finish our course, 
and " enter into the joy of our Lord." 

Then, again, it requires a courageous spirit 
to have respect to all God's commandments. 
They are very short, but they are " exceed- 
ing broad." They extend to every thought, 
and word, and work — to every movement of 
the inner, and every act of the outer man. 
The law of God is like the atmosphere we 
breathe — it encompasses us always and 
everywhere. But always and everywhere 
to strive after conformity to it — at whatever 
cost, risk, sacrifice, or suffering — what holy 
intrepidity does this demand! Well might 
Joshua, when lie was taking leave of the 



FORTITUDE IN DUTY. 173 

hosts of the Lord, say to them, "Be ye there- 
fore very courageous" — for what purpose? 
To vanquish their enemies ? — to root out the 
remnant of the Canaanites? No; but " to 
keep and to do all that is written in the book 
of the law of Moses." Courage was re- 
quired by them to obey rather than to fight ; 
to subdue themselves rather than to dis- 
comfit the Hittite and the Perizzite. Let 
them do the former, and the latter would 
follow. Look at the history of Israel, and 
you will find it a commentary on this truth. 
Never were they faithful to the Lord, but 
their enemies fled; never were they unfaith- 
ful to him, but their enemies triumphed 
over them. "The battle is not to the 
strong." Surrounding Jericho, at God's com- 
mand the walls fell prostrate, without a 
sword having been drawn or an arrow shot 
— going against Ai, when they had pro- 
voked the Lord to anger, they were smitten 
down before the men of that insignificant 
city. ^ 

It is further requisite that the servant of 
Christ should be of good courage in order 
that he may overcome the world — in order 
that he may not be "conformed to" it, but 
"transformed by the renewing of his mind." 
He is not of the world, even as his Master 



174- A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSTN1 

is Dot of the world. Jesus "gave himself 
for us, that he might redeem us from the 
present evil world." It is true the religion 
of Christ does not lie in singularity; yet, 
even in this land, we are strangers to living 
Christianity unless we are singular ; for 
the multitude of those among us are as 
truly of the world as are the pagans in 
heathen lands, who do not even know that 
name. Hence, those who have the mind that 
was in Christ, cannot fail to be "a peculiar 
people" in the midst of Christendom, even 
as they would be in the midst of Paganism. 
The features which distinguish them from 
those by whom they are surrounded, may 
not be so palpable in the one case as in the 
other ; but they are not on that account less 
real. The children of God, wherever they 
dwell, must, in spirit and character, " come 
out from among" the world "and be sepa- 
rate." They dare not "walk according to its 
course," else they would walk "according to 
the prince of the power of the air." "They 
are crucified to the world, and the world to 
them." Their path is narrow, and therefore 
their fellow-travelers are few. They must 
welcome the world's frown rather than court 
it- -mile. "If they were of the world, the 
world would love its own; but because they 






FORTITUDE IN DUTY. 175 

are not of the world, for Christ has chosen 
them out of the world, therefore the world 
hateth them." If we bear his image, we 
shall share his "reproach." For, though 
some think that the beauty of virtue must 
captivate, and the loveliness of holiness dis- 
arm all — yet when He who was virtue em- 
bodied and holiness impersonated, walked 
the world, instead of being captivated by 
the beauty of his holiness, and ravished by 
the loveliness of his virtue, the men of the 
world hated him, and mocked him, and 
scourged him, and buffeted him, and spat 
upon him, and crowned him with thorns, 
and crucified him. Such was the world's 
appreciation of the excellency of virtue, 
and the perfection of holiness! And if 
they persecuted Christ, will they not per- 
secute his people? — if they called the mas- 
ter of the house Beelzebub, will they not 
much more call them of his household ? 
The more closely we resemble our Lord, the 
more shall we be honored with the world's 
enmity. The " offense of the cross " hath 
not ceased. If we escape the offense, it 
must be by hiding the cross. Strange, that 
while Mahommedans and Pagans glory in 
their shame, and never think of blushing to 
own their superstitions — Christians should 



17*) A MOREL FOB MKN OF BUSINESS. 

s.» often be ashamed of their glory 1 Mys- 
terious evidence that the cross is of God! 
Paganism never provokes the enmity of the 
carnal mind ; it is the cross that stirs its an- 
tipathy. Here, therefore, is a wide field for 
Christian courage. To confess Christ before 
men, to glory in his cross, to identify our- 
selves with his people — this is hard to flesh 
and blood — harder to many than to face 
the cannon's mouth. "The fear of man 
bringeth a snare ;" — the fear of his frown, 
his contempt, his ridicule, his scorn — how 
often does this false feeling ensnare the soul ! 
The vaunted valor of the world betrays its 
hollowness here. He who will rush on the 
battle's edge, dares not face the sneers of 
fools. In defiance of conscience and the 
fear of God, he will stand to murder or to 
be murdered, lest he should be branded as 
a coward. What pusillanimous bravery ! 
What dishonorable honor! In noble con- 
trast was the spirit of that man of holy in- 
trepidity — " Colonel Gardiner ;" who, when 
challenged to a duel, answered majestically, 
" You know I am not afraid to fight, but I 
am afraid to sin." Still more sublime was 
the conduct of another illustrious soldier, 
who — when a rash and insolent young man, 
after having challenged him in vain for the 



FORTITUDE IN DUTY. 177 

purpose of provoking him to fight, first went 
so far as to strike him, and then spit in his 
face — calmly took out his handkerchief, and 
wiping his cheek, said solemnly, " Young 
man, if I could as easily wipe your blood 
from my conscience as I do this from my 
face, I would chastise your insolence." No 
marvel that the youth, stung to the quick 
by such magnanimity, fell on his knees and 
craved forgiveness. That was a glorious vic- 
tory ! The Christian hero, by conquering 
himself, conquered his enemy ; so fulfilling 
the precept, " Be not overcome of evil, but 
overcome evil with good." The world's 
heroes overcome evil with evil, and there- 
fore are vanquished; the Christian hero 
overcomes evil with good, and therefore is 
more than conqueror. 

And let it not be supposed that, in the 
daily and common-place pursuits of business, 
there is no scope for the exercise of this 
grace. In its lowlier and less impressive, 
but not less important exercises, it is fre- 
quently called into play. Occasions for its 
manifestation occur where the unbelieving 
never perceive them. For instance, a com- 
mercial man has to do with men who, in the 
transactions of business, adopt certain prin- 
ciples, and pursue a certain line of policy, 
12 



ITS A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

which, though consistent with the world's 
standard of morality, is not in harmony with 
the high demands of scriptural integrity. 
In such a case, there can be no doubt what 
path a Christian must choose; but in choos- 
ing it, he will not only have to forego a 
seeming advantage, but he will have also to 
provoke the dislike, if not the censure, of 
those whom by such a choice he tacitly re- 
bukes. He will be thought, if he is not 
called precise, puritanical, wanting in spirit 
and enterprise, never likely to succeed in 
the world. Here moral courage is brought 
into requisition, in order to embolden him 
to encounter resentment and contempt, to 
stem the current of custom, and brave the 
strictures of the oracles of trade. Or per- 
haps he is a servant, accustomed to submit 
to his employer, dependent upon him for his 
daily bread. He is required to act deceitfully, 
or to concur in dishonesty, or to profane the 
day of holy rest. His situation is at stake 
if he refuse. Yet he must " not be a parta- 
ker of other men's sins ;" he must obey God 
rather than man. Now, therefore, the for- 
titude of faith must intervene ; he must 
trust in God, cleave to that which is right, 
and commit the issue to his hands. Or it 
may be that his ordinary avocations compel 






FORTITUDE IN DUTY. 179 

him to mingle with profane, impure, and 
licentious men, whose mouths are full of un- 
cleanness and ungodliness : he breathes a 
tainted atmosphere, like that of Sodom and 
Gomorrah. What courageous resolution it 
requires to keep himself, like Lot in Sodom, 
undefiled by the pollution which encompasses 
him, to own Christ where all deny him, and 
glory in his cross where all pour contempt 
on his name ! What but a strength made 
perfect in weakness can keep him pure 
amid surrounding impurity, reverential amid 
surrounding profaneness, truthful amid sur- 
rounding deceit? 

But he may be called {some are called, 
multitudes have been called) to severer tests 
of holy fortitude than these. "AH that will 
live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer perse- 
cution. " Few, however, have in these lat- 
ter days drunk deeply of the bitter cup. 
But there is reason to think that it is filling 
again for the faithful. The indications of 
prophecy and the aspects of Christendom 
seem alike to betoken a return of fiery trial 
for the righteous. 

Already on the continent of Europe, as in 
the case of the Madiai and other meek con- 
fessors, "the man of sin" is threatening to 
wield again that sword which, though forced 



ISO A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

for a season to sheath, lie never laid aside. 
Everywhere he is grasping at political power 
under the guise of spiritual authority, and 
onlv let him, either by himself, or in alliance 
with infidelity, acquire a more complete as- 
cendency, and the fires of persecution will 
again blaze, and new ranks be added to 
" the noble army of martyrs." Are we pre- 
pared for the ordeal ? Were the tempest to 
rise, how much chaff would it sweep from 
the threshing-floor of the Church ! how little 
wheat would it leave there ! Were the fur- 
nace to be heated, how much shining dross 
would be consumed! how little fine gold 
would remain, only purified by the flame ! 
At all events, though we may never be called 
upon to share the martyr's crown, we are 
called upon to imbibe the martyr's spirit. 
No man can be Christ's who has not the 
spirit of a martyr. For what is the martyr's 
spirit? Is it not to count all things but 
dung, so that Christ may be won? And 
can any win Christ without so estimating 
him? Nay, verily; for he himself has de- 
clared, " If any man come to me, and hate 
not his father and mother, and wife and 
children, and brethren and sisters, yea, and 
his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." 
This is to be a martyr in heart. And let us 



FORTITUDE IN DUTY. 181 

not forget that he who has this mind, will 
show it in the little as he would in the great, 
in the calm as he would in the storm; in 
enduring the contradiction of sinners, as 
he would in confronting the rack or the 
stake. 

It is clear, then, that there is a wide range 
for the display of godly courage in our ordi- 
nary walk and warfare. There are daily 
occasions to repel the suggestions of carnal 
policy, the insinuations of worldly wisdom, 
and the promptings of unbelief, with one of 
the Lord's faithful ones. 

How ennobling this spirit ! Even natural 
valor has something grand in it; but the 
heavenly heroism of him who fears God, 
and therefore fears none else, possesses a 
majesty which bespeaks it divine — the 
rather, because it is often displayed by the 
naturally timid and weak, yea, even by lit- 
tle children. As it is written: "O Lord, 
our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all 
the earth ! who hast set thy glory above the 
, heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and 
sucklings hast thou ordained strength, that 
thou mightest still the enemy and .the 
avenger." So, of the great " doud of wit- 
nesses " whose exploits are chronicled in the 
eleventh chapter of the epistle to the He- 



182 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

brews, how many were frail and faint, but 
" out of weakness they were made strong ;" 
omnipotent strength was made perfect in 
their weakness ; — hence, though but worms 
of the dust, they threshed mountains, or 
sustained worlds. "When I am w r eak," 
said the great apostle, " then am I strong." 
And can the archives of the w r orld exhibit 
any grandeur of soul to be compared witli 
Paul's? In the near prospect of " bonds and 
imprisonments" he said: "But none of these 
things move me, neither count I my life 
dear unto myself; so that I might finish my 
course with joy, and the ministry w r hich 1 
have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify 
the gospel of the grace of God." And, in 
the immediate view of a cruel death, he ex- 
claimed : " I am now ready to be offered, 
and the time of my departure is at hand. I 
have fought a good fight, I have finished my 
course, I have kept the faith: henceforth, 
there is laid up for me a crown of righteous- 
ness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, 
shall give me at that day." Equally sub- 
lime was the bearing of Shadrach, Meshach, 
and Abed-nego, when — as the burning fiery 
furnace blamed before them, and the infuriate 
tyrant overwhelmed them with threatenings 
— they calmly answered, "O Nebuchadnez- 



FORTITUDE IN DUTY. 183 

zar, we are not careful to answer thee in this 
matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve 
is able to deliver us from the burning fiery 
furnace, and he will deliver us out of thy 
hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto 
thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, 
nor worship the golden image which thou 
hast set up." No marvel that they over- 
came their furious , persecutor, and wrung 
from his heart admiration of their conduct 
and adoration of their God. ~No quality 
adds so much weight and dignity to Chris- 
tian character as this quality. The timid, 
trimming, compromising, inconstant profes- 
sor disgraces the banner under which he 
marches, and betrays the Captain whose 
name he bears. The very world, which 
snares or seduces him from his steadfastness, 
will be the first to despise him when it shall 
have entangled him, and to speak of him and 
exult over him as fallen. In their estima- 
tion, therefore, he is exalted when he will 
not come down to them — he will have de- 
graded himself by fearing their fear and 
coveting their applause. When he will not 
flee from his duty to save his life, then the 
w^orld respects while it hates him ; but when 
betrayed into hiding himself in " refuges of 
lies," the world sets him at naught. " Their 



1S4 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies 
themselves being judges." 

And what a blessed confidence and liberty 
does this virtue give the soul ! " The wick- 
ed flee when no man pursueth; but the 
righteous are bold as a lion." "Ye have 
not received the spirit of bondage again to 
fear; but ye have received the spirit of 
adoption, whereby we >cry Abba, Father." 
" God hath not given us the spirit of fear ; 
but of power, and of love, and of a sound 
mind." Numbers are held back from fol- 
lowing Christ fully, through a cowardly 
shame. Well might Bunyan in his "Pil- 
grim's Progress" say, "No enemy so belied 
his name as Shame; for he was the most 
shameless villain that hung upon the pil- 
grim's steps, and clung to him to the last." 
Many would fain come to Jesus, like Nico- 
demus, by night. They are afraid of losing 
social caste and position ; they are ashamed 
of being numbered among " fools and fanat- 
ics ;" they covet the crown but they shrink 
from the cross. Rather should the Chris- 
tian be ashamed of such shame, and afraid 
of such fear. " Sanctify the Lord God in 
your hearts* Let him be your fear, and let 
hi in be your dread." " If we suffer, we shall 
also reign with him: if we deny him, he 



FORTITUDE IN DUTY. 185 

also will deny us." There is special need 
that those should be admonished who occupy 
their business in the midst of a world that 
lieth in wickedness, to be more than ever 
" valiant for the truth ;" — that they should 
be addressed as St. Paul addressed the Cor- 
inthians, "Watch ye; stand fast in the faith; 
quit you like men ; be strong." Our age is 
one of compromise and concession. A piti- 
ful, dastardly spirit of expediency has set 
aside the sway of stern and sterling principle : 
— from our statesmen and legislators down 
through all ranks of the community, the 
canker of a false liberalism has diffused it- 
self; truth is sacrificed to peace, and wisdom 
to selfish policy. Let the godly beware of 
this leaven — hold fast the "wisdom which is 
first pure then peaceable,"— judge all things 
by the Bible, — assert its supremacy in all 
things and over all things, — smile at the 
charge of bigotry and blindness. H Blessed 
are ye when men shall revile you, and per- 
secute you, and shall say all manner of evil 
against you falsely, for Christ's sake." 

To young men especially, who are just 
launching forth on the sea of public life, do 
these considerations address themselves. At 
their age, the mind is most keenly alive to 
opinion — the heart most sensitive to reproach 



l s *> a HODlKi you MSB OF nrsiNi 

and contempt Many a hopeful youth lias 
been laughed out of his conscience, and ban- 
tered out of hie character. Such, tlierefore, 
peculiarly need moral courage. To them 
would we say : — Fear, that you may not fear. 
Fear God, that you may not fear man. 
Hearken to the voice of your "Leader and 
Commander:" — "Fear not them who, after 
that they have killed the body, have no 
more that they can do ; but I will forewarn 
you whom ye shall fear : Fear Hirn which, 
after he hath killed, hath power to cast into 
hell ; yea, I say unto you, fear him." " Be 
strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." 
Take for your models the glorious examples 
of youthful heroism with which Scripture 
abounds. Imitate Joseph, who braved dan- 
ger but dared not sin against God. Copy 
Daniel, wdiom the den of lions could not 
affright — who would not so much as cloak 
hie fidelity to the Lord. Be followers of 
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who 
smiled at the burning fiery furnace — endur- 
ing, as " seeing Him who is invisible." Imi- 
tate St. Paul, who "conferred not with flesh 
and blood, and counted all things but dung, 
so that he might win Christ, and be found in 
him.* 5 Above all, strive to remember Him 
who "endured the cross, despising the 



FORTITUDE IN DUTY. 187 

shame, and is set down at the right hand of 
the throne of God ;" and who has said, " To 
him that overcometh, will I grant to sit with 
me on my throne ; even as I also overcame, 
and am set down with my Father in his 
throne." " Thanks be to God, w T hich giveth 
us the victory through our Lord Jesus 
Christ !" 









188 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 



CHAPTER IX. 

JOY IN SERVING GOD. 

He knows nothing of genuine Christianity 
who does not know it as the well-spring of 
happiness. For what is the gospel? It is 
the revelation of God's plan for making man 
happy again. This accomplished in us, it 
has accomplished its design ; this frustrated 
in us, its purpose has been defeated. Away, 
then, with the lie and the libel which Satan 
lias forged and the world has fostered — that 
the service of Christ is a service of gloom 
and sadness. It has its own sorrows, but it 
has its own joys; it has disquietudes pecu- 
liar to itself, but it has a peace all its own ; 
and its peace passeth all understanding, 
and its joy is " unspeakable, and full of 
glory." ' 

There is joy in the service of God. We 
might have anticipated that such would be 
the case. Infinitely blessed in himself, he 
must delight in blessing. It follows that he 
must delight in communicating blessedness 
to all that he creates. The happiness of his 
creatures, in subordination to his own glory, 



JOY IN SERVING GOD. 189 

to which all things are necessarily subservi- 
ent, must be his design. 

If, therefore, the Christian revelation be a 
revelation from God — a revelation springing 
out of his mercy — we should at once infer 
that it would have for its object the restora- 
tion of happiness to those who through dis- 
obedience had lost the blessing. What rea- 
son would thus lead us to anticipate, revela- 
tion abundantly realizes ; the Word of God, 
from first to last, points to the happiness of 
every one that receives the truth in reality 
and with power, as its natural scope and 
crowning result. We need only refer to the 
testimony of the Old Testament Scriptures 
on this subject. They abound in such dec- 
larations as these : — " Blessed is the man 
that trusteth in the Lord." " O Lord of 
hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in 
thee." " Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye 
righteous ; and shout for joy, all ye that are 
upright in heart." " Happy is the people 
that is in such a case ; yea, blessed is that peo- 
ple whose God is the Lord." "Blessed is 
the people that know the joyful sound : they 
shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy coun- 
tenance: in thy name shall they rejoice all 
the day." " Delight thyself in the Lord, 
and he shall give thee the desires of thy 



190 A MODEL FOB MEN OF BUMN1 

heart." " Her wavs are ways of pleasant- 
ness, and all her pathfl are peace." Or if 
we |»a>s on to the testimony of the New 
Testament, what is the spirit which it 
breathes I Christianity was ushered into 
the world with the proclamation, " Behold, 
L bring you glad tidings of great joy." The 
Redeemer's invitation to the burdened and 
the sad was, " Come unto me, all ye that 
labor and are heavy laden, and I will give 
you rest." To his disciples he said, " These 
things have I spoken unto you, that my joy 
might remain in you, and that your joy 
might be full." His promise to them when 
leaving the world was, "I will see you 
again, and your heart shall rejoice, and 
your joy no man taketh from you." The 
epistles bear the same witness : " The king- 
dom of God is not meat and drink, but 
righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy 
Ghost." "Rejoice evermore." "Rejoice 
in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice." 
"The peace of God, which passeth all un- 
derstanding, shall keep your hearts and 
minds, through Christ Jesus." "The fruit 
of the Spirit is joy." "Whom having not 
seen, ye love ; in whom, though now ye 
see him n<>t, yet believing, ye rejoice with 
joy unspeakable, and full of glory." Such 



JOY IN SERVING GOD. 191 

are the sweet notes of the silver trumpet of 
salvation. 

Shall we appeal to the experience of the 
saints, as recorded in Scripture? "Your 
father Abraham," said Christ, " desired to 
see my day, and he saw it, and was glad." 
The sweet singer of Israel thus tuned his 
harp to joy: "The Lord is my shepherd; I 
shall not want : he maketli me to lie down 
in green pastures ; he leadeth me beside the 
still waters." " Thou hast put gladness into 
my heart, more than in the time that their 
corn and their wine increased." In like 
manner the prophet TIabakkuk, when he 
foresaw and foreshadowed the desolations 
that were coming on Israel, exclaimed, "Al- 
though the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither 
shall fruit be in the vines ; the labor of the 
olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no 
meat; the flock shall be cut off from the 
fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls : 
yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in 
the God of my salvation." Equally rich in 
examples of the beatific influence of grace 
are the Scriptures of the New Testament. 
When the aged Simeon embraced the Babe 
that brought salvation, his whole soul was 
filled with joy, and he said, "Lord, now 
lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, ac- 



192 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

cording to thy word; for mine eyes have 
seen thy Salvation." What were the emo- 
tions of St. Paul, " when it pleased God to 
reveal his son Jesus Christ in him?" lie 
thus expressed them : " God forbid that I 
should glory " — rejoice — exult — " save in the 
cross of Jesus Christ, by whom the world is 
crucified to me, and I to the world." What 
was the invariable effect of "the word 
preached," " when mixed with faith in them 
that heard it?" At first, indeed, they were 
pricked in their hearts, but afterward they 
were " those who received the word gladly " 
that were baptized ; and then we read, " they 
did eat their meat with gladness and single- 
ness of heart " — so speedily did the fragrant 
flower of joy spring forth from the root of 
pain. They sowed in tears ; but " in a little 
moment" they reaped in joy. "Beauty 
was given them for ashes ; the oil of joy for 
mourning, and the garment of praise for the 
spirit of heaviness." So it was with the 
Ethiopian eunuch. Philip joined him on 
his homeward way, and "preached to him 
Jesus ;" he believed — confessed his faith — 
was baptized — and " went on his way re- 
joicing." How striking the case of the 
Philippian jailer ! One moment trembling — 
affrighted — overwhelmed — asking with in- 



JOY IN" SERVING GOD. 193 

tensest anxiety, " Sirs, what must I do to be 
saved ?" the next moment, having " believed 
on the Lord Jesus Christ," and " being bap- 
tized, he rejoiced with all his house." Need 
we add that the epistles all speak of the joy 
of those to whom the word of salvation came 
in power? They record of some, that they 
" received the word in much tribulation," 
yet "with joy of the Holy Ghost." Of 
others, that they " took joyfully the spoiling 
of their goods, knowing in themselves that 
they had in heaven a better, that is, an en- 
during substance." 

Abundant room and reason is there for 
this heavenly joy. It is "the joy of the 
Lord" It is a joy that centres in the Lord, 
and is imparted by the Lord. It is a drop 
from the ocean of the blessedness " of the 
blessed God." It is a joy in himself; not 
in sacraments and signs, not in gifts or 
graces, not in outward things. These are 
channels that may convey the living water 
to the soul ; but they have it not in them- 
selves: they are golden pipes that, if not 
made idols, bring refreshing streams to the 
thirsty spirit; but they are not the well- 
spring of those streams. The fathomless 
fountain is in the Lord Jesus, in whom alone 
are all the fresh springs of his people. " Re- 
13 



L9£ A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

price in the Lord always, and again I say 
rejoice." Each saint will say with the 
blessed virgin, "My soul cloth magnify the 
Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God 
my Saviour." Is there not joy in him — joy 
unspeakable — for the poor, blind, burdened, 
weary, condemned, despairing sinner, when 
he finds in him the righteousness divine, 
which justifies him freely — the blood divine, 
that cleanses from all sin — the Almighty 
Spirit, that quickens him to life eternal — the 
hope that maketh not ashamed — the title 
" to an inheritance incorruptible, and unde- 
filed, and that fadeth not away?" Can a 
man have his sins, which were as scarlet, 
made white as snow? Can he pass from 
darkness to light, and from the power of 
Satan unto God ? Can he be translated out 
of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom 
of God's dear Son ? Can he be rescued out 
of the prison-house, from the bondage of sin 
into the glorious liberty of the sons of God ? 
Can he exchange the husks which the swine 
do eat, for the " feast of fat things " which 
crowns his Father's table ? Can all this take 
place, and the man experience no holy joy 
as the consequence of a revolution, compared 
with which all the changes which enrapture 
the men of this world are but as the toys of 






JOY EST SERVING GOD. 195 

infancy, or the sports of childhood ? Their 
wells of joy have no depth — they are all sur- 
face. They are like the shallow water — soon 
stirred to the bottom by the slightest breeze. 
Their gladness is easily dispelled; but the 
happiness of the believer resembles the 
ocean, which even when its face is ruffled 
has calm in its soundless depths below. He 
who minds earthly things has all his treas- 
ures embarked in barks of bulrushes — one 
is wrecked, another swamped, another run. 
down ; and by-and-by he himself dies, and 
in that very hour all his thoughts perish. 
Not so with those who mind heavenly things. 
Their choicest treasure is stored in the ark 
of immortality, whose anchor is cast within, 
the vail, and abideth sure and steadfast. 
The vessels which bear their earthly hopes 
may be whelmed in the waters; but that 
vessel cannot fail to land its freightage 
on the eternal shore ; for Christ is its pilot^ 
the Spirit swells its sails, and the Father 
has pledged his oath that it shall never 
sink. 

"Your joy," said Jesus, "no man taketh 
from you." It is joy in himself — and he is 
" the same yesterday, to-day, and forever." 
The happiness of the worldling — if happiness 
it can be called — is transient as " the flower 



196 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

of the grass," uncertain as a shadow, soiled 
with the dust, and drawn from " broken 
cisterns." The happiness of the saint is sure 
as the truth of God, permanent as eternity, 
pure as the crystal river that issues from be- 
neath the throne in heaven, and full as the 
ocean from which it is derived. " These 
things have I spoken unto you," said the 
Redeemer, "that my joy might remain in 
you, and that your joy might be full." This 
joy of the Lord is communicated by him, as 
well as found in him. It comes not by the 
will of man ; it is not lodged in any ordi- 
nances — they only convey, but they never 
contain it ; it is imparted by the Spirit of 
Jesus, who taketh of the things of Jesus and 
reveals them to the soul. He prepares the 
heart for joy, by purifying the heart from 
sin. He prepares it by breaking the heart 
of stone, that he may then bind up the broken 
heart with sovereign balms of consolation — 
pouring in the oil and wine of heaven. He 
is, therefore, called the Comforter, and "the 
Spirit of Adoption. 5 '* Precious Comforter! 
There is no wound he cannot mollify, no pain 
he cannot alleviate, no sorrow he cannot 
soothe, no despair he cannot irradiate. His 
consolations and joys are the first-fruits of 
heaven. Hence it is said, " Now he that 



JOY W SERVING GOD. 197 

hath, wrought us for the self-same thing is 
God, who also hath given to us the earnest 
of the Spirit." "The fruit of the Spirit is 
joy;" and " in the presence of God is full- 
ness of joy." Grace is glory in the germ. 
The river of water of life, which rises in 
heaven, has streams on earth — streams 
which make glad the city of God below. 

There is joy to the servant of God in the 
service of his Father in heaven, and the joy 
which he feels is " the joy of the Lord." 
Let him thirst for it ; drink of it abundantly ; 
"draw water with joy out of the wells of 
salvation." He need not fear the living 
draught. It cannot intoxicate ; it never 
palls. While it refreshes it invigorates ; 
while it animates it sustains. For " the joy 
of the Lord is your strength." 

It is our strength for active duty. It is the 
oil on the wheels of exertion, which makes 
them run freely and smoothly. It is not 
the sickly, dreamy, selfish* emotion of the 
quietist or the recluse — the hothouse flower 
that shrinks from the open air, and needs 
perpetual forcing. The joy of the Lord 
nerves for toil, and braces for conflict ; makes 
the yoke of Christ easy, and his burden light. 
What a man does happily, he will do hearti- 
ly, and what he does heartily, he will do 



L98 A MODEL FOR MIX OF Bl 

well. u I will run the way of thy command- 
ments," said David, M when thou shalt en- 
large my heart." So, in withstanding the 
allurements or the onsets of the world ; in 
maintaining the good fight of faith; in fin- 
ishing the course assigned us to fulfill; in 
keeping the faith once delivered to the saints, 
even unto death ; — there is nothing which so 
nourishes the inner man, so fortifies the spirit, 
so imparts elasticity to the step, vigor to the 
arm, and nerve to the heart, as "joy in the 
Holy Ghost." It makes the devoted Chris- 
tian — by making the satisfied Christian. 
The husks which the swine eat may excite 
the hankering of him that is in want ; but 
he who feasts at his Father's table turns from 
them with loathing. To delight in God is 
the way to delight in his service. The slave 
who dreads, and therefore hates, his master; 
or the hireling, who works only for wages — 
performs his irksome task with distaste and 
with weariness. But the dutiful and affec- 
tionate son, who labors without wish for 
present recompense save his father's smile of 
>weet approval — he pursues his work with 
relish because he pursues it with joy. Love 
makes the labor sweet because it makes the la- 
borer happy. Thus the Christian serves God 
because he finds his service perfect freedom 



JOY IN SERVING GOD. 199 

— lie finds that " the work of righteousness 
is peace;" — he turns to the divine will 
through the power of attraction, as the 
needle turns to the pole or the sunflower to 
the sun ; for his sun and his pole are Christ 
Jesus his Lord, from whom springs all his 
light of gladness. On the other hand, he 
who finds no fruition in his religion, is al- 
most sure to be weak and wavering in his 
choice. Finding, or rather seeming to find, 
that the cup of salvation does not satisfy his 
soul, he will be tempted to raise to his lip 
the impure cup of earthly pleasure. Hence 
it is that many of the young who did run 
well are drawn aside to folly. They failed 
to taste the bread from heaven — the angels' 
food, else they would not have hankered 
after the garlics and the cucumbers of 
earth. 

"The joy of the Lord" strengthens faith 
as well as obedience. If faith do not ripen 
into joy, it leaves the professor open to the 
suggestions of unbelief, to the insidious insin- 
uations of Satan — that God is a hard master, 
that his service is gloomy, and that his com- 
mandments are grievous. But let the servant 
of God find " peace and j oy in believing," and 
his belief so sealed will be established ; he will 
know that in embracing the gospel he has not 



200 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

M believed B cunningly devised fable," for he 
will have a witness in himself that it is in- 
deed k% glad tidings of great joy." So it will 
come to pass, that he will be confident, and 
courageous in his confidence, and shielded 
from " the fiery darts of the wicked." He 
that is happy in his faith, will also be stead- 
fast in his faith ; but where restlessness 
and discontent intrude, they fill the heart 
with questionings and misgivings. In like 
manner, holy joy will be the strength of the 
believer's patience amid all his sorrows, and 
of his serenity amid all the vexations, dis- 
tractions, and uneasiness of life's daily task. 
They who are occupied from early to late, 
and from Sabbath to Sabbath, in the vortex 
of mercantile affairs — know how much they 
meet with to fret the spirit and chafe the 
temper. They often feel faint and jaded 
and oppressed. Not a few of our traffickers 
are worn out prematurely by the high pres- 
sure of modern business. The overtasked 
brain and overstrung nerves give way. Yet 
it is not so much the effort, as it is the anxi- 
ety, the application, or the excitement of 
their occupations which works the mischief. 
And what then will abate this fatal pressure? 
What will save the machinery from derange- 
ment and dislocation? — what, but the joy of 



JOY IN SERVING GOD. 201 

the Lord ? That will keep a man tranquil in 
the midst of commotion — cheerful in the 
midst of disappointment — self-possessed in the 
midst of dangers — steadfast when all around 
are driven to and fro, and tossed up and down 
like the leaves of " the trees when shaken 
by the wind." This well-spring within will 
also refresh the spirit in the dreariest hours ; 
yea, give to the mourner songs in the night 
season. There is no more beautiful sight in 
this vale of tears, than a child of God rising 
sublimely above all that the world can threat- 
en or inflict — enjoying most of heaven when 
he has least of earth. As a holy sufferer 
once said, while writhing in an agony — " I 
never had such anguish, but I never had 
such joy." Or as one of the martyrs, when 
burning at the stake, exclaimed — " Tou ask 
for a miracle, behold one ! these flames are 
to me as a bed of roses." Was this illusion? 
— then what is real ? Was this enthusiasm? 
— then what is sound and sober ? A fiction, 
a sentiment, an emotion, could never have 
upheld " the glorious army of martyrs ;" 
never have enabled them to wake the echoes 
of the dungeon with psalms of thanksgiving, 
and mount triumphant in their chariot of 
fire to their Father's arms. Their spiritual 
joy so absorbed the inner man, that the tor- 



202 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

tares of the outer man were scarcely felt. 
Such is the power of this heavenly grace. 
It imparts a strength which no burden can 
crush, no weariness exhaust, no disasters 
overwhelm. 

Why, then, should any be miserable, when 
in Christ there is full provision made for the 
happiness of every child of Adam ? " Ho, 
every one that thirsteth, come ye to the wa- 
ters, and he that hath no money ; come ye, 
buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk 
without money and without price." " And 
the Spirit and the Bride say, come ; and let 
him that heareth say, come ; and let him 
that is athirst, come ; and whosoever will, let 
him take the water of life freely." " And 
whosoever drinketh," saith Christ, "of the 
water that I shall give him, shall never thirst; 
but the water that I shall give him shall be 
in him a well of water, springing up into 
everlasting life." Poor, weary, wandering 
child of earth ! — whose heart is panting af- 
ter satisfaction other than earth can supply 
— who say est in thy secret heart, " O that I 
knew where I might find rest ; that I could 
discover the portion of my soul!" — I tell 
thee, as they told the son of Timeus of old, 
a Be of good comfort, rise ; he calleth thee." 
Jesus the friend of sinners calls thee ; that 



JOY IN SERVING GOD. 203 

yearning of thy spirit is from him ; he waits 
to bless thee. Cast away the garment of 
self-righteousness. Lay aside every weight 
that would retard thee, and hasten to the 
Saviour. Fall at his feet in faith, yield thy- 
self into his hands ; and he will speak peace 
to thy mind— he will send thee on thy way 
rejoicing. Hearken to his expostulation 
and assurance — "Wherefore do ye spend 
money for that which is not bread; and 
your labor for that which satisfieth not? 
Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that 
which is good, and let your soul delight it- 
self in fatness." 

How sad it is, that so many who name the 
name of Christ drag on a morose, repining, 
wearisome life ; and thus bring up an evil 
report of the promised land ! They show no 
beautiful clusters of the vine of heaven, and 
consequently men of the world, taking ad- 
vantage of such caricatures of Christian life, 
are ready to say — "These men are less happy 
than ourselves ; they are fuller of complain- 
ings, more cankered with cares, more troubled 
about many things. We are told that the 
gospel is glad tidings of great joy; but are 
these the evidences ?" It is not in this way 
that Christianity can be commended. We 
must covet the joy of the Lord, in order that 



20i A ICODIL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

"our tight may so shine before men," that 
ing .»ur bleeeedneee as well as our holiness, 
"they may glorify our Father which is in 
heaven." Let men of business, immerBed in 
public avocations, study amid the hurry, vex- 
ation, tumult and toil of the world, to main- 
tain a genial spirit, a heavenly sunshine of the 
soul — irradiating and tinging all their course, 
making it evident that they have a hidden 
light which earth never kindled, and which 
earth cannot quench. There have been 
many bright examples of such a career. 
"Who that knew the generous Thornton — 
who that came into contact with the manly 
Buxton — who that communed with the ge- 
nial Wilberforce, but saw in them that they 
had a joy which no man could take from 
them? And ought not the believer to be 
joyful? What! — if his sins are forgiven, 
and he is reconciled to God in Christ; what! 
if Jesus is his friend, his shepherd, his broth- 
er ; what ! — if the Holy Ghost is his com- 
forter and his guide; what! — if angels are 
his attendants and all holy beings his breth- 
ren : what I — if God is his portion — heaven 
his eternal home; what! — if all things are 
his, whether Paul or Apollos, or Cephas or 
the world, or life or death, or things present 
or things to come, all are his, and he is 



JOY IN SERVING GOD. 205 

Christ's, and Christ is God's — ought he not 
to " rejoice ever more" — to rejoice with " a 
joy unspeakable and full of glory ?" Let not, 
therefore, the humble but faithful servant of 
God be afraid of holy joy, as though it were 
presumptuous. If it tend to holiness, it can- 
not be from evil. O that good men would 
no longer grieve the Holy Ghost by mis- 
trusting his gift ; neither think of it as a dis- 
tant attainment which only a favored few 
are privileged to possess — or that it is reserv- 
ed for the hoary saint only — if not for the 
heavenly state alone. It should rather be 
regarded as enjoined upon the very babe in 
Christ : for is it not written, " Let the heart 
of them rejoice that seek the Lord ?" We 
may stagger at appropriating a promise — 
but can we stagger at obeying a precept? 
But " Rejoice in the Lord always," is as 
much a precept as " Thou shalt not steal," 
or " Thou shalt not commit adultery." And 
do we not need the blessed cordial to strength- 
en our hearts for life's toil and struggle ? Do 
we not need it to bear us up against the 
world's disappointments and dishearten- 
ments — to secure us from the world's se- 
ductions, and arm us against the world's 
assaults — to inspirit us in the evil day, and 
calm us in the stormy hour? Let us then 



206 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

follow after it — for it is commanded; ao 

pepl it — for it is promised. "In His pres- 
ence li fullness of joy; and at his right 
band there arc pleasures for ever more." 
Let the su?i of hea/oen be the morning star 
qf \ 'irth. 



UNWOKLDLINESS OF MIND. 207 



CHAPTER X. 

TJNWORLDLESTESS OF MOTD. 

It was the peculiar and predicted character 
of Israel, that they should " dwell alone, and 
not be numbered among the nations." Such 
was their condition in Egypt; such it re- 
mained while they dwelt in the land of 
promise ; such has it continued to be since 
they were scattered abroad as chaff to the 
four winds of heaven. However dispersed, 
they are still distinct ; a Jew is everywhere 
a Jew ; his nationality has not been lost in 
his dispersion ; the people are like oil upon 
the waves of the sea — everywhere diffused, 
yet nowhere blended. In this respect, as in 
other things, Israel after the flesh were an 
expressive type of Israel after the Spirit. 
Not more truly were the former nationally 
separate from the nations of the uncircum- 
cised, than are the latter spiritually separated 
from a world that lieth in wickedness. They 
are so, however scattered, however inter- 
spersed among the ungodly, however they 
must have their habitations and their occu- 
pations in the midst of the men of this world, 



208 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

" who have their portion in this world." 
Still they are a "peculiar" people, or as the 
word in the Greek signifies an "appropri- 
ated," a "purchased" people — because they 
are redeemed by the blood, and set apart by 
the Spirit of Jesus from "the present evil 
world." 

It can hardly be denied, that those whom 
Christ calls, are called out of the world, 
called to be of another spirit than that which 
actuated them when they were of, as well as 
in the world. It is specified as the grand 
purpose of Christ's ^ujfering, that " he died 
for our sins to redeem us from this present 
evil world, according to the will of God." 
Can we then be partakers of his redemp- 
tion, unless we are rescued from the world? 
To the same effect is the language of God 
addressed to all his people : " Come ye out 
from among them, and be separate, and 
touch not the unclean thing ; and I will re- 
ceive you, and be a father to you, and you 
shall be my sons and daughters, saith the 
Lord Almighty." In like manner the Spirit 
spake by St. Paul, "Be not conformed to 
this world, but be ye transformed by the re- 
newing of your mind." No language could 
be more expressive. It is abundantly clear, 
then, that there must be an essential differ- 



TJNWORLDLINESS OF MIND. 209 

ence between the world at large, and the 
chosen children of God. It is clear that the 
latter will be discriminated from the former, 
however they may be intermingled in their 
society. But wherein does the distinction 
consist? Does it consist in withdrawing 
from the occupations of life, in shrinking 
into the hermitage, or in skulking into the 
monastery? Far from it. Our Master, 
when interceding for his disciples, said, "I 
pray not that thou shouldest take them out 
of the world, but that thou shouldest keep 
them from the evil," — the evil in the world. 
We are enjoined to be not " slothful in busi- 
ness, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." 
Are we not bound, then, as enjoined by one 
of those excellent epitomes of our holy re- 
ligion, which a portion of the Church has 
put into the hands of her children, " to learn 
and labor truly to do our duty, and get our 
own living in the state of life to which it has 
pleased God to call us ?" It is quite possible 
for a man to come out of the world physic- 
ally, and not to come out of it spiritually — 
it is quite possible for a man to retreat into 
the convent, and yet to carry the world with 
him in his heart; on the other hand, it is 
quite possible for a man to live in the midst 
of the busiest occupation, and yet to be cru- 
14 



210 A MODEL FOB MEN OF BUSINESS. 

Olfied to the world, and the world unto him. 
It is, therefore, in the spirit rather than in 
the letter, that we are to be separated from 
the world. And this separation is to be as 
real in these times as it was in primitive 
times ; in these lands as it must be in pagan 
countries. 

There is a baptized world as well as an 
unl >aptized ; a world of practical unbelievers, 
as well as of nominal and avowed ones. All 
are not Israel that are called Israel. All 
are not Christ's that are called Christians. A 
soldier of the cross must fight manfully 
against the world here, even as he would 
have to do were lie in the heart of heathen 
lands ; yea, it is much harder to maintain 
the conflict in the former case than it would 
be in the latter. An ambushed enemy is 
more dangerous than an open foe. 

But what is the spring of an unworldly 
spirit? Faith, the mighty power of faith. 
"This is the victory that overcometh the 
world, even our faith. Who is he that over- 
cometh the world, but he that believeth that 
Jesus is the Son of God?" The believer 
knows in himself that he has in heaven a 
better, that is, an enduring substance. His 
native country is on high. He looks upon 
the present world as no more than "the 



TUSTWORLDLESTESS OF MIOT). 211 

house of his pilgrimage ;" consequently lie 
reckons that he ought to occupy himself in 
it, and feel toward it, and hope from it, sim- 
ply as a sojourner, who "looks for a city 
that hath foundations, whose maker and 
builder is God." Of such a one it may 
well be said, that his "citizenship" is in 
heaven — as the Greek word used by St. 
Paul, which we render " our conversation is 
in heaven," might be more literally rendered. 
And there was a peculiar force in the ex- 
pression as employed by one who was him- 
self a Roman citizen — as he once pleaded in 
arrest of an injustice that was about to be 
inflicted upon him — for Rome, being the 
"mighty mistress of the then known world, 
gave such peculiar immunities and privi- 
leges to her citizens, that a Roman retained 
his rights wherever he might have his dwell- 
ing ; and whether he abode in Gaul, or in 
Britain, or in the extremities of the earth, 
still, wherever the Roman scepter stretched 
its sway, there he might claim and avail 
himself of his illustrious prerogative ; he be- 
longed not the less to the great metropolis — 
challenged its protection, and gloried in its 
name. 

All this aptly represents the state of those 
who are citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem. 



212 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

They enjoy their citizenship, not only when 
inclosed within its crystal walls, but where- 
ever they may be scattered abroad in the 
midst of this evil world ; in the body, or out 
of the body, they are free of the celestial 
city ; their honors, their home, their treas- 
ure, and their heart are there. Consequent- 
ly, they pass through this world as the scene 
of their pilgrimage — " as a strange country" 
— as a place of tabernacling. Like Israel 
in the wilderness, they "are journeying to 
the land of which the Lord hath said, I will 
give it you." Their conversation is in heaven. 
This is the essence of an unworldly mind. 
Actuated by this spirit, a Christian trades- 
man will not be enslaved by business, but 
will keep it in subjection to his soul's good. 
The unearthliness of his spirit will be mani- 
fest not only in the closet, the sanctuary, or 
the congregation of the faithful, but will ex- 
ert its indirect influence on the most secular 
and distracting of his avocations and pur- 
suits. In the counting-house, in the ware- 
house, in the exchange, he will still be a 
spiritual man. His unworldliness will show 
itself not in a forced or formal demeanor, 
not in affectation of dress, or look, or speech ; 
but it will appear in moderation of desire, 
in crucifixion to the world, in meekness of 



UNWORLDLTNESS OF MIND. 213 

spirit, in deadness to the lust of the flesh, 
the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. 
He must " walk in the flesh, but he will not 
war after the flesh." He lives amid, but he 
does not live according to the things of 
sense. "They that are after the flesh do 
mind the things of the flesh ; but they that 
are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit." 
True, instead of being less punctual, he will 
be more punctual than others in his engage- 
ments; instead of being less, he will be 
more assiduous in his avocations ; but all with 
a sobriety, a subduedness of spirit, which will 
broadly distinguish him from the groveling, 
idolatrous world around him. It is thus the 
people of God maintain a certain unearthly 
peculiarity throughout all their relationships 
to earth ; they do not become assimilated to 
the crowd through which they hold the 
tenor of their way. Like that limpid stream 
of which we are told, that, entering a salt 
and bituminous lake, it clears its way through 
the uncongenial waters, untainted and un- 
commingled, so that it issues forth below as 
pure as when it entered, — so the current of 
God's people, passing through the dead sea 
of this evil world, does not blend w T ith its 
waters, but speeds on undefiled to the clear 
ocean in heaven. On this wise it is that we 



214 A MO 

must be diligent in earth's duties, yet apart 
from earth's spirit; bodily in its midst, yet 
mentally and morally separate. 

But let us descend to particulars, that we 
may see how this spirit will tell upon the 
every day course of mercantile men strug- 
gling with the difficulties, and busied in the 
concerns, of the world. It will restrain 
them from intimacy, though they cannot 
avoid intercourse with the ungodly. They 
cannot altogether escape from companying 
" with the fornicators of this world, or with 
the covetous, or extortioners, or with drunk- 
ards, for then must they needs go out of the 
world ;" but they will disrelish such society, 
and recoil from its tone of sentiment ; to 
mix with such will be a cross, to escape 
from them a relief. The Christian will feel 
it a mortification to be obliged to consort 
with a vain, sensual, faithless generation : it 
will be like breathing an oppressive atmos- 
phere, till he can again return to the sanc- 
tuary, the closet, or the family circle, where 
he may breathe a congenial element, and 
feel his soul at home. In like manner he 
will be distinguished from the world by the 
moderation with which he forms his plans 
and prosecutes his undertakings. Earnest- 
ness and industry are perfectly compatible 



UNWORLDLINESS OF MIND. 215 

with soberness of mind. " Let yonr moder- 
ation be known unto all men ; the Lord is at 
hand." He will not have his soul absorbed 
in his speculations as they have whose all is 
embarked on an earthly raft; for his treasure, 
his hope, his heritage are beyond the reach 
of peril and vicissitude. It will be seen 
that he has something in view far surpassing 
all that occupies him here ; and that he 
engages in secular avocations out of a sense 
of duty toward God, rather than from choice, 
or interest, or affection. What those around 
him treat as matters of overwhelming impor- 
tance he regards as little better than showy 
impertinences, which have more of sem- 
blance than reality ; and with which he 
would gladly be done, were it not that he owes 
it to God, and to his generation, to undergo 
the toil, the struggle, the discipline, the weari- 
ness of life's appointed task. He will also 
show " another spirit " in the friendships 
which he forms, and the associations which 
he chooses. It is one thing to be forced 
to come into contact with " the children 
of this world" in the way of duty, and 
another to conform to them in their customs, 
and consort with them in their amusements. 
Kind to all, he is intimate with few, and 
selects none for his friends who are not 



216 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

friends of Christ. He copies Daniel — the 
man greatly beloved — in the Persian court. 
Surrounded by the corruptions of a palace, 
"he defiled not himself with the king's 
meat," he kept himself unspotted from the 
world. He imitates Joseph, who, whether 
in the house of Potiphar, or in the palace 
of Pharaoh, fulfilled the duties of his office, 
yet feared to "sin against God." And the 
God whom he served was to him as " a wall 
of fire," and as "a little sanctuary in the 
midst of the heathen." The Christian is 
safe while he is separate. He runs little 
risk while he goes no further than duty 
leads him ; but when once he unnecessarily, 
through heedlessness or eagerness for gain, 
enters into close relations w T ith ungodly men, 
let him be sure that he is taking a step 
pregnant with danger, not to say disaster. 
So it proved in the case of Lot when he 
chose the plain of Sodom, regardless of the 
wickedness of its inhabitants, because it was 
well watered and fruitful as the garden of 
the Lord ! His lust of earthly gain and sen- 
sual enjoyment plunged him into vexation, 
and peril, and loss, and desolation, and a 
terrible snare. So, again, it proved with 
Jehoshaphat, when he ventured upon un- 
hallowed alliances witli the wicked. In the 



TJNW0ELDLINE8S OF MIND. 217 

first instance lie joined his forces with those 
of Ahab, to go up with him to battle against 
Ramoth Gilead : but the unblessed expedi- 
tion came to naught, the king of Judah had 
to flee for his life, and the prophet of God 
thus sternly rebuked him, "Shouldest thou 
help the ungodly, and love them that hate 
the Lord? therefore is wrath upon thee from 
before the Lord." Yet, forgetting past 
warning and correction, he subsequently 
joined himself " with Ahaziah, king of Israel, 
who did very wickedly: he joined himself 
with him to make ships to go to Tarshish ;" 
but God confounded the unprincipled coali- 
tion, for the ships were broken at Ezion- 
geber, " so that they were not able to go to 
Tarshish. 55 

These things were written as beacons to 
warn Christian men that they should not 
form intimate connections in business with 
godless men ; for such alliances cannot come 
to good. They will prove sources of sorrow, 
if they do not of sin ; and happy will it be 
for the Christian who has been so ensnared, 
if the Lord rend asunder the unequal yoke, 
and the loss of property avert the loss of 
peace, and consistency, and "good report." 
Let then the Christian man of business 
guard against unnecessary entanglements 



218 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

with the worldly. More especially let the 
young beware of connecting themselves 
with those who do not fear God in that rela- 
tion which is at once the closest and the 
most influential in life: — "Be not unequally 
yoked together with unbelievers." He or 
she who marries, but not in the Lord, will 
assuredly smart for the step ; God will infalli- 
bly make that individual see that it was an 
evil and bitter thing not to have consulted 
the Lord in a matter of such surpassing 
moment. 

Need I add, that an unworldly mind will 
restrain its subject from that greediness of 
gain which, more than ever, characterizes 
the w r orld in the present age? In what 
strong terms does Scripture brand avarice 
and the slave of avarice. It denounces the 
covetous man as " an idolater ;" it speaks 
of him as one " whom God abhorreth ;" and 
it affirms that " covetousness is idolatry." 
Stronger still, if possible, is its language 
when it asserts that the "love of mone} 7 is 
the root of all evil;" implying that there is 
no form of sin which does not originate in, 
or is not aggravated by, that accursed dispo- 
sition. Yet, how it binds men with its spell ! 
How, at the present moment, is it driving 
headlong the mercantile world! It is but 



UNWOKLDLINESS OF MIND. 219 

faithfulness in the minister of Christ to tes- 
tify, that the system of business as now car- 
ried on in this country is, to a large extent, 
unchristian and pernicious. Such is the 
high pressure of traffic, that it is hard for 
those engaged in it to retain unimpaired 
either their bodily powers or their mental 
faculties ; much more is it hard for them 
to retain the calmness, cheerfulness, spiritu- 
ality, and self-control which befit the citi- 
zen of heaven, whose heart and treasure 
are not here. In consequence, it needs an 
uncommon measure of grace and watchful- 
ness, in order that they who are occupied 
in these things may not be swept along by 
the torrent of the age; in order that they 
may be of another spirit than that which sur- 
rounds them ; mastering the world, instead 
of being mastered by it ; ruling circumstan- 
ces, instead of being their victims and their 
sport. To be the former, is to be a man 
— an immortal — a saint — a king ; to be the 
latter, is to be a slave — a shadow — a dupe — 
who will awake at last to find that he has 
" sown the wind and reaped the whirlwind" 
— "sown to the flesh, and must of the flesh 
reap" everlasting "corruption." 

There is, therefore, need of the utmost 
carefulness, to escape the danger of being 



220 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

borne along by the spring-tide of covetous- 
noss which surges around the Christian 
tradesman. lie must take care that he keep 
the prow of his little bark ever toward the 
haven above. " Set your affection on things 
above, not on things on the earth." The 
thrilling appeal of Christ should always 
echo in his heart, " What shall it profit a 
man, if he shall gain, the whole world and 
lose his own soul?" Yet a little while, and 
a costlier coffin, more sumptuous funeral 
trappings, and a more garnished tomb than 
others have, will be all that untold wealth 
can do for him who has sold the birthright of 
his immortality for handfuls of shining dust. 
It remains to be added that if a man be 
of an unworldly spirit he will have a large 
and open hand for the claims of God, the 
service of his Church, the furtherance of his 
truth, and for the relief of the poor and 
needy, " especially of them who are of the 
household of faith." How sad the tendency 
of wealth to contract the heart of him who 
gains it ! Melancholy, but not uncommon, 
the spectacle of a man whose liberality has 
diminished in proportion as his resources 
have expanded ; who gave largely when he 
was Comparatively poor, and gives grudging- 
ly now that he has waxen rich. The love of 



UNWORLDLINESS OF MIND. 221 

accumulation steals into the breast like a ser- 
pent — poisoning the fountains of kindness. 
Wealth ministers to selfishness — and selfish- 
ness has nothing to spare. How fearfully 
significant, therefore, is the admonition of 
the Saviour, "Take heed and beware of 
covetousness." "If riches increase, set not 
your hearts upon them." Nothing is more 
alarming as to the soul's safety- than this 
craving after constant accessions to one's pro- 
perty; this passion for adding field to field 
and house to house ; for having splendid 
dwellings, and sumptuous equipages, and 
vast estates, that he may call the lands by 
his own name, and transmit them to his de- 
scendants. Such ambition should be left to 
the world — to those who have no other por- 
tion, who seek no higher reward. But you, 
O Christians, are not of the world. You 
profess to have a kingdom and a treasure 
" in the land that is very far off." Thither, 
therefore, export your riches. "Make to 
yourself friends of the mammon of unright- 
eousness." Leave it to the heirs of earth to 
" walk in a vain shadow, and disquiet them- 
selves in vain ; to heap up riches, while they 
cannot tell who shall gather them." " This, 
their way, is their folly, and their posterity 
laud their doings." But so should it not be 



222 A 1C0DBL FOB MKN OF BU8I5E88, 

with you. If God gives largely to you — give 
you largely to God ; secure your gains by 
parting with them, and make them truly 
your <>wn by laying them at your Saviour's 
feet. Is it for you to wish to have it said, 
when you shall have gone to your account, 
that you died worth so many thousands of 
pounds I Worth ! — if that be all your worth, 
you are worthless indeed. Is it for you to 
be bent upon bequeathing to your children 
superfluous wealth — fortunes which are fitted 
to encumber their souls, and interpose be- 
tween them and heaven? Rather seek first 
for your children, even as for yourselves, 
the kingdom of God and his righteousness. 
Bequeath to them the fragrant memories of 
your good deeds ; leave them a rich heritage 
in the prayers and benedictions of the father- 
less and widows. 

Many parents, who ought to have done 
better, have drowned their children's souls 
in affluence and luxury. Will those child- 
ren thank them when they meet before the 
judgment-seat I I do not say that we may 
not enjoy in moderation what God has given 
us, for we are told that "God hath given us 
all things richly to enjoy." I do not say we 
ought to forego the table of hospitality, or 
furnish it meagerly. Neither do I say that 



UNWORLDLINESS OF MIND. 223 

we ought not to make any provision for our 
offspring. We are taught that the fathers 
ought to lay up for their children. Yet 
should we take heed that we do not, in the 
name of our children, rob our God, lest, hap- 
ly, we entail upon them a curse instead of a 
blessing. In every part of the land, how 
many profligate sons have soon squandered 
in riotous living all the substance for which 
their fathers had toiled ; making shipwreck 
alike for time and eternity ! Happy had it 
been for both parents and children had more 
been dedicated to God, and less heaped up 
to prove a mockery and a snare ! 

O how beautiful, how truly excellent is 
this unworldly spirit ! How it adorns the 
doctrine of God our Saviour ! How it bears 
a living witness to Christ! How it ever 
preaches a sermon intelligible to all ! one in 
its silent eloquence most persuasive — capti- 
vating others into an unearthly conversation. 
If Christians would let their light so shine 
before men that their good works might be 
seen, and their Father which is in heaven 
thereby glorified; if they would have the 
\jorld take knowledge of them that they 
have been with Jesus, it must not be by 
pretense, or affectation, or formalism, but by 
the ethereal spirit which they breathe, by 



'224- A MODEL FOB MEN OF BUSUff] 

salted tenor of their life, by making it 
manifest that they have a secret power which 
the world knows not ; that they pursue busi- 
ness as others do not pursue it; that they 
endure Losses as others do not endure them ; 
and above all, that they bear prosperity as 
men of the world cannot bear it. If the 
more they have of earth the less earthly they 
become — if riches humble instead of exalt- 
ing them, expand instead of contracting 
their hearts — the most worldly will admit 
that this is the power of God. We speak of 
adversity as a touchstone, and so it is; but 
prosperity is a much more searching test. 
It is related of one of the hearers of the ex- 
cellent Richard Cecil, that he sent to his 
minister a slip of paper requesting the pray- 
ers of the Church for one who had come into 
sudden fortune — that the event might not 
endanger his soul. That individual knew 
something of his own heart, and realized the 
force of the startling saying — " How hardly 
shall a rich man enter into the kingdom of 
heaven I" In the same spirit of wisdom we 
are taught to pray not only " in all time of 
our tribulation," but " in all time of oiy 
wealth," good Lord, deliver us. Yet few 
there are who pray to God to keep them 
when they are prosperous, while in adversity 



UlSrWORLDLINESS OF MIND. 225 

multitudes will pray to be delivered out of 
their affliction. In very deed, however, 
there is more need to pray to God that he 
would hold us up when the tide of the world 
is in our favor, than when the waves and 
blasts of trouble beat upon us. 

Let the young set out in life resolved 
through strength divine to cultivate a heav- 
enly mind. It is true that many of our 
young men have to ply their daily task in 
warehouses, counting-houses, or manufacto- 
ries, where they breathe an atmosphere im- 
pregnated with secularity ; where the world, 
the world's gain, success in business, clever- 
ness in bargaining, are everything. How 
hard for such — susceptible as they are of the 
plastic power of circumstances, and easily 
seduced by surrounding example — how hard 
for them to keep the mind in communion 
with God ; and while compassed with earth- 
ly influences, not to inhale them, but, through 
the golden tube of prayer, to draw down the 
air of heaven amid that tainted atmosphere 
which would otherwise soon quench the liv- 
ing lamp of godliness within the soul! 

Let then the young man dare to be singu- 
lar — not in affectation, but in righteousness. 
Let him be assured that, if only he is consist- 
ent, the world will respect even while it re^ 
15 



226 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

proaches him ; and his employers, though 
they may not be able to appreciate his mo- 
tives, will ultimately confide in his character; 
yea, and those who at first made him the 
butt of their ridicule, will by and by say 
within themselves, " May our souls be with 
theirs when we have to give our account to 
our Judge !" 

Let no one suppose that to cast out the 
spirit of the world is to create a void within 
- — to crush the energies, and dry up the sym- 
pathies ; far from it, Christ does not simply 
dislodge, he displaces the world. If he ex- 
pel the love of it from our hearts, it is by 
substituting the love of himself; if he wean 
us from glittering clay, it is by holding forth 
to us " an enduring substance ;" if he draw 
our affections from this land of shadows, and 
changes, and decoys, it is by the mighty at- 
traction of "a kingdom that cannot be 
moved." If we are ready then to give up 
all for Christ, we shall find all in Christ. If 
we eat abundantly of the children's bread, 
we shall disrelish the husks of earth. If we 
look much at the bright battlements of "the 
city of habitation," all here will look faded 
and dim. The soul smitten with the love of 
the Saviour turns away from its allurements, 
and sings : — ■ 



UNWORLDLINESS OF MIND. 227 

That uncreated beauty which has gain'd 
My ravished heart, has all your glory stain'd; 
Its loveliness my soul has prepossessed, 
And left no room for any other guest. 

God Almighty give to us all grace to use 
this world as not abusing it ; to improve it 
as the scene of duty, but not to love it as a 
place of rest ! It is at best a verdant quag- 
mire : if we build upon it, we shall be en- 
gulfed; if we tread lightly over it, we shall 
escape its pollution. 



228 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 



CHAPTER XL 

JEALOUSY FOR THE HONOR OF GOD. 

There was much good sense and Christian 
wisdom in the reply which was once given 
to a dignitary of the Church by a simple 
rural pastor. The latter had said to the 
former, while remonstrating with him on 
account of some unwise step that he was 
about to take, " If you act so, what will the 
people say?" To which the other replied 
with disdain, " Do you care what the people 
say?" The rejoinder of the plain man was, 
" I care as little as any man what the people 
say ; but I care a great deal what the people 
have a right to say." How just the distinc- 
tion ! Human opinion ought to have no 
weight with us when it contravenes duty ; 
but it ought to weigh much with us when 
we incur its censure by the violation of duty. 
It does not speak well for a man that he is 
regardless, though it would have been no 
less wrong if he had made an idol of his 
reputation. Our own name is to be of little 
estimation in our mind, except as it may 
affect the name of our Master. If he be 



JEALOUSY FOR THE HONOR OF GOD. 229 

wounded through us, then indeed we ought 
to feel the smart ; if we bring reproach on 
that holy name by which we are called, then 
indeed we ought to be confounded. It is 
always of the nature of love and loyalty to 
be sensitive in relation to the fame of their 
object. The soldier who is true to his coun- 
try and his captain cannot be more keenly 
stung than by hearing them reviled; the 
more so if in anywise his own conduct has 
occasioned the reproach. And is the soldier 
of the cross to be less alive to the honor of 
the Captain of his salvation, who redeemed 
him with his blood ? Is he to feel less pierced 
when Jesus is wounded in the house of his 
friends ? 

God has a people in the world. He has 
never failed to have a little flock — a ran- 
somed, reconciled, renovated few, who, in 
the language of the apostle, are " called to be 
saints," chosen out of, set apart from an evil 
world. Of these it is that God says, " This 
people have I formed for myself," and im- 
mediately adds, " They shall show forth my 
praise." They stand, therefore, in a peculiar 
relationship toward the rest of mankind; 
they are the candlesticks of God's truth — 
the temples of his Spirit — the models of his 
workmanship. They are set as confessors in 



230 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

the midst of gainsayers; as lilies in the 
midst of thorns. In them God is pleased to 
enshrine his light and concentrate his grace ; 
so that it is through them, and by them, he 
brings his light and grace to bear upon the 
dark and corrupted world in which they 
dwell. Hence Christ said to the little group 
which he had gathered to himself, " Ye are 
the light of the world ; ye are the salt of the 
earth." Through them the lamp of life is to 
cast its bright beams on the darkness that 
encompasses them ; from them the savor of 
the divine influence is to transfuse itself into 
the mass of corruption by which they are 
surrounded. The ungodly will judge chiefly 
of Christianity by those who profess it, and 
be largely won or scandalized by the man- 
ner in which it is adorned or disgraced by 
them. As God said of old to his Church, so 
he says still, "Ye are my witnesses, saith the 
Lord." How sublime, how dignified, how 
responsible a position — to be the visible wit- 
nesses of the invisible God — the selected 
vessels of clay to convey to mankind the un- 
searchable riches of Christ! Such and so 
exalted is the destiny of God's people, in re- 
lation to his grace and truth in their bearing 
upon the world. What then follows ? Sure- 
ly that it is their paramount and imperative 



JEALOUSY FOR THE HONOR OF GOD. 231 

duty to see that God's grace be glorified, his 
truth exemplified, his honor vindicated, his 
kingdom maintained by them. Their watch- 
word must be, " Let your light so shine be- 
fore men, that they may see your good 
works, and glorify your Father which is in 
heaven." What is to be dearest to them? 
Their wealth— their success — their distinc- 
tion — their standing among men — their fam- 
ily — their life itself? No ! these are to be 
to them but as dross in comparison with His 
name whom they serve. This is to be their 
pole-star. Reputation, ease, relations, life, 
must be sacrificed rather than Christ denied, 
God dishonored, truth betrayed, and occa- 
sion given to the enemies of the Lord to 
blaspheme. 

But if this be the spirit of the faithful — 
and it must be if they love their Master — ■ 
then they cannot but be exceedingly sensi- 
tive to reproach cast upon his holy name. 
No evidence will more unequivocally show 
their loyalty to their Lord than this godly 
jealousy. Would you give much for the 
affection of a friend who, in your absence, 
heard you traduced and misrepresented, yet 
cared not to espouse your cause ? Would 
you set much value on the devotedness of a 
child who could sit by while the reputation 



232 A MODEL FOB MEN OF BUSINESS. 

of his father was assailed, and yet bear to be 

silent in its defense! Is it not one of the 
surest signs of the fidelity of love that it is 
wounded, when the object on which it is 
placed is wounded ; } T ea, that the wound is 
felt more keenly by him that loves than if it 
had been inflicted on himself? How touch- 
ingly beautiful is this delicate, disinterested 
sensibility of love ! It will make the timid 
bold, the stammering eloquent. See it in 
the mother vindicating her child ; see it in 
the patriot vindicating his country ; but see 
it most sublimely and thrillingly manifested 
in the martyr pleading for his Lord. The 
cold carnal world cannot indeed appreciate 
the latter ; but angels hover round it with 
admiring sympathy, and the King of angels 
stands up to watch the mighty working of 
his own strength, " made perfect in weak- 
ness." There is an affected plilosophy in 
the language of the world on this subject. 
"How can the Infinite be honored or dis- 
honored by an insignificant creature of clay ? 
Can man reflect the slightest light, or breathe 
the slightest stain on majesty divine?" Ab- 
solutely he cannot, but relatively he may. 
The portrait cannot affect the original in- 
trinsically, yet it may represent or misrepre- 
sent the object which it portrays; conse- 



JEALOUSY FOR THE HONOR OF GOD. 233 

quently, such abstract subtilty does not in 
the least lessen the obligation to glorify God, 
or extenuate the guilt of such as blaspheme 
God, or of such as can bear with cool indif- 
ference to hear the blasphemy. Nor must 
we forget that, whatever the guilt of the 
godless who blaspheme, their guilt is sur- 
passed by the guilt of those who, while 
professing to know and love the Lord, can 
make light of that blasphemy and try to 
gloss it over — arguing that neither the good- 
ness nor the wickedness of worms of the dust 
can have any influence on Him that inhabit- 
eth eternity. So to apologize for profaneness 
is to participate in its guilt. 

But if loyalty to God will make us keenly 
alive to anything which touches his honor 
on the part of others, much more will it make 
us shrinkingly sensitive to anything in our- 
selves which might give occasion to the ene- 
my to revile. Unless this be the rule of our 
moral sensibility, we have reason to suspect 
that our profession of zeal is hypocritical. 
Were it sincere, we must dread most the 
scandals for which we are most responsible. 
However the beam in our brother's eye 
might disgust us, the mote in our own eye 
would distress us still more. " Let the god- 
less and profane speak all manner of evil 



284 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

against us falsely, and for Christ's name 
sake ; but let not the contumely cast upon 
us recoil upon our Lord." " Outrage me as 
you will," the genuine soldier of the cross 
will say — " but do not insult the Captain of 
my salvation. My reputation is of little 
worth — only let not my Master be blas- 
phemed." It is thus we must strive to shield 
the name we bear. It is thus we must seek, 
above all things, to give no cause to the ad- 
versary to rail, or to the weak to stumble. 
Let the enemies of the truth be able to find 
no fault in us, except it be concerning the 
law of our God. Like Daniel let us brave 
the lion's den rather than betray our Mas- 
ter's honor. 

Religious men of business should there- 
fore take heed that amid the affairs of ordi- 
nary life, they give no occasion of reproach 
— neither in the counting-house, nor in the 
exchange, nor in the manufactory, nor be- 
hind the counter — to those who lie in wait 
for. their halting. The w T orld will judge of 
their profession in the sanctuary by their 
practice in the market-place ; their evangel- 
ical principles will be measured by the in- 
tegrity of their secular conduct, and by the 
spirit which they breathe, when mingling 
with the world. The ungodly are keenly 



JEALOUSY FOR THE HONOR OF GOD. 235 

alive to deviations from what becometh the 
gospel of Christ, much as they pretend to 
slight its authority, and deny its power ; ex- 
orbitant in their expectations from the right- 
eous, while they suspect the reality of their 
faith. Transgression directly against God, 
indeed, they will smile at, and easily forgive ; 
but transgression against man they bitterly 
resent. Their standard of guilt is in an in- 
verse ratio to that of "the first and great 
commandment." Against this inversion the 
Christian must boldly protest, maintaining, 
according to the order of Scripture, that " to 
render to God the things that are God's," is 
a paramount duty; while to render to man 
the things that are man's, "is like unto it." 
Yet, at the same time, special heed must be 
taken not to give the world occasion to say, 
"These saints are as hard in their dealings, 
as ready to take advantage of the unwary, 
as keen in their bargaining, as prone to 
commit ingenious frauds, if only they can 
do it without compromising their character, 
as those who neither profess to know nor to 
serve the Lord. The honor and honesty of 
skeptical men are brighter than theirs." Woe 
to those who provoke such imputations! 
" It must needs be that offenses come ; but w r oe 
to that man by whom the offense cometh." 



236 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

Let it not be inferred, however, that we 
would have Christiana become the dupes of 
the dishonesty of others; or that we would 
discountenance their watching for and 
taking advantage of openings for commercial 
enterprise — favorable changes in the mar- 
ket — opportunities for sober speculation. 
Far from it; rather should they strive to 
excel their fellows — for the truth's sake — as 
in virtue, so in skill. It was strikingly said 
by John Newton, that a Christian ought, in 
proportion to his talents, to surpass all other 
men in his own calling ; because, serving a 
heavenly Master, and actuated by loftier 
motives and consequently following his voca- 
tion with greater cheerfulness, alacrity, and 
efficiency — if he were only a shoe-black, he 
ought to polish shoes better than a godless 
servant. How just the sentiment! Sound 
religion qualifies, instead of unfitting us for 
the performance of our allotted task. Let, 
therefore, the disciple of Christ be earnest in 
the prosecution of his occupation ; let him 
be active, punctual, sagacious — and, if it 
please God — successful in business ; but let 
hi in take heed that he does all this without 
imbibing that selfish, grasping spirit, which 
will impel him to overlook the interests of 
others in his own, and to purchase success 



JEALOUSY FOR THE HONOR OF GOD. 237 

even by the sacrifice of principle. If riches 
increase, let him not set his heart upon them. 
Let him never provoke God to say, " Thou 
fool, this night thy soul shall be required of 
thee ; then whose shall those things be which 
thou hast provided ? So is he that layeth up 
treasure for himself, and is not rich toward 
God." Let him, then, because he is a Chris- 
tian, and by virtue of his fidelity to his holy 
calling, be enterprising — be prosperous — if 
it should seem good to the Lord to prosper 
him ; only let his enterprise and his prosper- 
ity be unsullied by the slightest deviation 
from rectitude ; let them be the result of 
upright dealing, straightforward industry, 
and honorable skill. It should be made evi- 
dent to the men of this world with whom he 
may have to do, that as they cannot take 
advantage of him, so he will not take advan- 
tage of them ; that, while his principles re- 
strain him from dealing wrongfully, they do 
not lead him to act foolishly ; that, instead 
of blunting his discernment, they give it a 
finer and truer edge. Thus may he convince 
them that "the children of light" only judge 
the more soundly even in matters of this 
life, because they judge according to truth. 
It is not seemly that the believing merchant 
should allow himself to pass for a fool in the 



W 2:N A MODEL FOR MEN OF BU8TNESS. 

things of trade, though lie must expect to be 
charged with folly in the things of the Spirit. 
It is by such a course, combining sagacity 
with i% innocence," manly good sense with 
Simplicity and godly sincerity, that he can 
best vindicate the holy faith he professes, 
and justify the wisdom that is from above. 
Thus may he hope to constrain the gainsay- 
ers to glorify God in the day of visitation. 
They may refuse to listen to the ministra- 
tions of the ministers of religion, they may 
also refuse to lend an ear to his words. 
There may be times when Christian discre- 
tion will compel him to act upon the caution, 
" Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, 
neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest 
they trample them under their feet, and turn 
again and rend you ;" but they cannot shut 
their eyes to the beauty of holiness, nor turn 
away their ears from the eloquence of a 
blameless example. This is the simplest 
and most effectual way of contending with the 
wicked ; as it is said in Holy Scripture, 
" lie that keepeth the commandments con- 
tendeth with the wicked." No controversy 
is so. effectual as that of the holy with the 
unholy — that of the honest with the dishon- 
est — that of a consistent saint with all the 
worldliness, ungodliness, vanity, selfishness, 



JEALOUSY FOR THE HONOR OF GOD. 239 

and turbulence of the scene in which he 
lives and labors. 

While, however, we are to be supremely 
jealous for the honor of God in our own 
conversation, we ought to extend that jeal- 
ously to the conduct of our Christian breth- 
ren. These have special charge of the 
name and truth of God. As for the multi- 
tude, though nominally believers in Christ, 
they can hardly be confounded with his 
cause. It is not to them the godless look as 
Christ's witnesses ; it is not they who can 
betray him most sorely. It is the little 
flock who strive to act up to their profession, 
and who are therefore branded as exclusive, 
sanctimonious, peculiar — these are they with 
whom the glory of God is identified on earth, 
who have it most in their power either to 
belie or to justify "the wisdom which is 
from above." Over these, therefore, Christ's 
ministers are bound to watch with a holy 
solicitude — not as censors, much less as ac- 
cusers of the brethren; but as those who 
" consider one another to provoke unto love 
and good works," as those who are mindful 
of the exhortation, "Thou shalt not suffer 
sin upon thy neighbor; thou shalt in any- 
wise reprove him." "Faithful are the 
wounds of a friend." Let this then be your 



240 A IfODEL POK MSN OF r.FSTNESS. 

rule of action, () man of God, in all suitable 
occasions; if vou sec your "brother sin a 
sin which is not unto death," not only "ask 
God" but also warn him. Beware of mak- 
ing light of the faults of your fellows, be- 
cause they belong to your party, or because 
they hold an orthodox creed. Rather feel 
them with special sensitiveness; not indeed 
in a harsh and censorious spirit, which many 
mistake for godly zeal, but so as to bemoan 
them in private, and to tell them, not to 
others — but to the transgressors themselves. 
This is the part of a friend and brother. 

Yet not only when " that holy Name by 
which we are called " is defiled by his own 
people, are we to be pained, but we must 
keenly feel blasphemy and contempt poured 
upon it in the so-called Christian world, 
and in the unbelieving world at large. It is 
a sign that our godliness is of a low and tor- 
pid character, when we are little grieved 
by the dishonor which our Master under- 
goes from the wicked. It was not so with 
the prophets of old ; one of whom exclaimed, 
" Horror hath taken hold upon me because 
of the wicked that forsake Thy law ;" and 
again, "My zeal hath consumed me, because 
mine enemies have forgotten Thy words." 
Such were the sentiments of holy men of 



JEALOUSY FOR THE HONOR OF GOD. 241 

old ; and such is the mind God loves to see 
in his people. A hard, cold, insensible spirit, 
he beholds afar off ; but in the tender and 
susceptible soul he delights. When of old he 
gave — as Ezekiel in vision saw, commission 
to his angels with their slaughter -weapons 
to execute judgment on his apostate people, 
he first bade one among them who was 
clothed with linen, with a writer's inkhorn 
by his side, to go through Jerusalem, and 
" set a mark upon the foreheads of the men 
that sighed and that cried for all the abom- 
inations that were done in the midst thereof." 
These mourners in Zion were thus set apart 
by God for himself; near them the destroy- 
ers were not suffered to come. And should 
judgments come, as they may come soon — 
as they will come ultimately — on apostate 
Christendom, should the power of "The 
man of sin" once more rally for persecu- 
tion, or infidel anarchy spread desolation on 
every side, there is much reason to infer 
that the faithful few who have witnessed in 
public and wept in private will be sheltered 
in the evil day. It shall be said to them, 
" Come, my people, enter thou into ihy 
chambers, and shut thy doors about thee : 
hide thyself, as it were for a little moment, 

until the indignation be overpast." How 
16 



349 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSIN1 

sweet will sound that "still small voice" to 
them, when the tempest shall be mantling, 
ami the distant thunder bursting on the 
affrighted world ! 

Happy for us, if we are comparatively in- 
different to reproach cast upon ourselves, 
because so much more alive to the dishonor 
done to our Redeemer. Happy for us, if the 
fearful desecration of his day ; the profane- 
ness and impiety pouring forth from the 
press ; the overflowing tide of dissipation 
and debauchery ; the horrible prevalence 
of drunkenness and excess ; the loathsome 
crimes which disgrace our favored land, and 
open the mouths of our adversaries against 
us — happy for us, if we regard these things 
not with bitterness, not with self-righteous 
complacency, not with scornful disdain, but 
with shame, humiliation, and heaviness of 
heart — bemoaning them in our closets, and 
testifying against them in our lives. 

Nor must the faithful be indifferent to 
God's honor as involved in the government 
of the nation. They cannot be, if they hold 
as they must hold, that the Lord is King 
of kings, and Lord of lords; that by him 
"kings reign and princes decree justice." 
Maintaining this, they cannot but maintain 
that the nation, in its national capacity, 



JEALOUSY FOR THE HONOR OF GOD. 243 

ought to avouch the Lord for its God ; to 
legislate for the furtherance and vindica- 
tion of his truth ; to discountenance heresy, 
and repress profaneness and blasphemy ; to 
conform its laws to the divine Word, and 
recognize in everything its dependence on 
the divine blessing. When, therefore, God 
is betrayed in the high places of national 
assembly ; when his truth is sacrificed to a 
pitiful state policy ; when the question is not 
what is right, but what will serve a passing 
end, or secure a party purpose ; when a 
selfish, shifting, pusillanimous expediency 
usurps the place of eternal principle ; and 
when the opinions and view^s of the worldly- 
wise override the decisions of that Word 
which liveth and abideth for ever — then the 
people who know the Lord must not only 
mourn in secret, but lift up their voice 
like a trumpet, and affirm the eternal 
rights of the Most High. Away with 
the vile sentiment, so popular in these lat- 
ter days, that nationally we have nothing 
to do with religion ; that in the exercise of 
his political rights and the discharge of his 
political functions, the Christian may consult 
commercial interests, or have regard to party 
considerations, but that he is to ignore alto- 
gether the claims of faith and the counsels 



244 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

of Scripture. A man is to fear God in the 
family, but to forget him at the ballot-box ! 
In such godliness there must be some fault 
at the core. We are not indeed to be politi- 
cally religicrus — that is hypocrisy; but Ave 
are to be religiously political — that is con- 
sistency. Would that this land were alive 
to the high position which God has given 
her, and to the awful responsibility involved 
in that position; that our rulers were just men, 
fearing God and using the authority commit- 
ted to them for his glory ; but the responsi- 
bility for all this recoils largely on the constit- 
uency of the country. The electors choose 
the representatives who legislate falsely. 
How much, therefore, rests on the electorate ! 
Every faithful man possessing the right of a 
citizen, ought to regard it as a sacred trust 
from God, to be exercised for the good of the 
country and the honor of God. He ought 
to ask direction in praj T er; he ought to 
give to religious considerations the supreme 
weight in his decision ; he ought to arrive 
at his conclusion in the fear of God. This 
is what we ask of Christian citizens ! We 
may differ in judgment, we may hold di- 
verse political views — but at least let us 
unite in upholding the supremacy of God 
in all matters, public as well as private, 



JEALOUSY FOR THE HONOR OF GOD. 245 

civil as well as ecclesiastical. Nor should 
ministers of the gospel, on account of any 
fear of being charged with trenching on 
political ground, be deterred from speaking 
out boldly on a point where misconception 
of the grossest kind widely prevails. They 
are guardians of public as well as of private 
morality, and they must follow the examples 
of the prophets of old, who challenged sub- 
mission to their Master's claims in the pal- 
ace no less than in the cottage, in national 
councils no less than in domestic affairs. 
God forbid, then, that they should be afraid 
or ashamed to contend manfully for the 
right of God to rule in all and over all ! 

It remains that we enforce some of the 
lessons of wisdom which our subject sug- 
gests. While the world makes an idol of 
reputation, we must not esteem it lightly. 
Only let our aim be single. The world re- 
gards it as an end ; we must regard it as a 
means to a better end. Self is the object of 
the world's honor ; Christ of the believer's. 
If he shrinks from reproach, it is when he 
fears that it may in anywise obscure the 
great name he bears. He values a good 
name only in the Lord. He will take pleas- 
ure in reproaches for Christ's sake. How 
incomparably elevated is such a spirit above 



246 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

the spirit of worldly honor! that spirit 
which will goad a man to risk being mur- 
dered, or becoming a murderer, rather than 
encounter the scorn of the foolish world. 
♦Jealousy for the honor of our Master will 
cast out this proud, selfish sentiment. Very 
gracefully did the holy and courageous Col- 
onel Gardiner say to one who had challenged 
him, " You know I am not afraid to fight, 
but I am afraid to sin." That was true he- 
roism, the sense of honor which comes from 
God: a principle as much surpassing the 
tinsel substitute for it, of which the world 
makes boast, as the glorious sun in the firm- 
ament transcends the painted sun on the 
signboard of a tavern. The one is rational 
— real — sublime ; the other a pretentious 
mockery — a glittering hypocrisy. See to it, 
reader, that your star of honor is the honoi 
of your Lord ! 

But let no one fondly suppose that he 
can maintain this high standard unless he 
has the Spirit of God. It is he who must 
form in us the mind which was in Christ 
Jesus ; who, in the prospect of shame, and 
outrage, and agony, simply prayed, " Father, 
glorify thy name." Let Christ be formed in 
the heart the hope of glory, and then will 
that soul seek the honor th&t cometh from 



i 



JEALOUSY FOR THE HONOR OF GOD. 247 

God only — then will he be crucified unto the 
world and the world unto him — as the needle, 
true to the loadstone, is uninfluenced by 
other attractions. 

Above all, ought we to beware that the 
way of righteousness be not evil spoken of 
through our misconduct. " It must needs 
be that offenses will come, but woe unto him 
by whom the offense cometh." " Only let 
your conversation be as it becometh the 
gospel of Christ." Consistency will make a 
man bold ; inconsistency, weak and coward- 
ly. It was a keen and cutting, but merited 
rebuke, which, was once administered to a 
noisy, unstable professor, by a venerable 
minister ; the former had vauntingly said^ 
"I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ." 
— " Ah ! but," rejoined the latter, " the gos- 
pel of Christ has much reason to be ashamed 
of you." They are the worst enemies of the 
cross of Christ who assume it to betray it ; 
who make it the badge of licentiousness, in- 
stead of the symbol of purity. The lives of 
professing Christians should be in harmony 
with their lips. Their characters should be 
as crystal, to reflect around the light which 
grace enkindles in the soul ; not as dark 
lanterns to conceal, or stained reflectors to 
discolor the heavenly flame. In order to 



2-iS A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

this there must be no conferring with flesh 
and blood, no double-mindedness. The path 
i^ duty must be pursued with unswerving 
steadiness. There is no danger save in doing 
wrong. " By well-doing put to silence the 
ignorance of foolish men." We may com- 
pel men to respect our uprightness, however 
they may hate our sanctity. So did some 
consistent students in one of our colleges, 
w T hen they extorted from their principal, 
who was strongly prejudiced against their 
views, the emphatic testimony — " I hate the 
notions of these saints, but I admire their 
conduct." 

How ennobling in its tendency is this 
.habit of aiming at the glory of God in all 
things ! It will make us like the eagle, 
whose eye is on the sun, and whose flight is 
above the clouds. It will supply us with a 
motive ever mighty, and with an object ever 
satisfying. It will prove to us a pole-star, 
always beaming brightly on our path; 
whether in sorrow or in joy, whether amid 
darkness and tempest, or amid clearness and 
calm — it will tinge the murkiest clouds with 
silver. It will trace a track in the stormiest 
seas. He who labors thus to glorify God 
will also live a life worthy of his mysterious 
and deathless being. We were not designed 



JEALOUSY FOR THE HONOR OF GOD. 249 

to be mere engines for scraping together 
shining dust ; nor mere machines, to obey 
the external impulse of circumstances. No, 
we were fearfully and wonderfully made, 
sublimely and angelically endowed, that we 
might fulfill the will and reflect the glory of 
"the Lord God Omnipotent." Thanks be to 
God that we can be raised through the rich- 
es of his grace by Christ Jesus ! Waste we 
not, then, our energies on anything short of 
the divine glory. Thus shall we attain to 
everlasting distinction. For them that honor 
the Lord he will honor ; but " they that de- 
spise him shall be lightly esteemed." 

How vitally important is it that they who 
are plunged in business, and especially that 
those who are yet young in public life, may 
retain a tender conscience — a sensitive scru- 
pulosity about disgracing the Christian name ! 
How careful should they be not to suffer con- 
tact and collision with the world to blunt the 
edge of their moral sensibility, or to lead 
them to adopt the Satanic suggestion — "I 
must take leave of my scrupulousness, or I 
must take leave of success !" Translate the 
sentiment, and to what does it virtually 
amount? Is it not, "I must serve Satan, or 
I cannot prosper — he is greater than God ?" 
Are we startled at the naked blasphemy? 






250 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

Let us, then, shrink from the principle in 
which it is involved. Success should be 
measured by the standard of eternity. 
Serve God — and success is certain ; or if we 
fail of sublunary gain, yet will our light 
affliction, which is but for a moment, "work 
out for us a far more exceeding and eternal 
weight of glory." We may at all times say, 
whatever temptations beset us, "I am not 
bound to be rich, but I am bound to be 
faithful ; I am not bound to bequeath a vast 
fortune to my posterity, but I am bound to 
lay up treasure in heaven ; I am not bound 
to be courted and admired as the most suc- 
cessful merchant on 'change, but I am bound 
to give such an account of my stewardship 
to God in the last day, as that I may hear 
him say, ' Well done, good and faithful ser- 
vant, thou hast been faithful in a few things, 
I will make thee ruler over many things; 
enter thou into the joy of thy Lord/ " God 
Almighty grant that such may be the read- 
er's stewardship in time, and such his testi- 
mony and triumph in the great day ! 






HIS ZEAL FOR THE SANCTUARY. 251 






CHAPTEE XII. 

HIS ZEAL FOR THE SANCTUARY. 

The spirit of the real Christian is eminently 
devotional. Whether contemplated in the 
closet, or engaged in his secular occupations, 
or mingling with the great congregation in 
the house of worship, he is everywhere dis- 
tinctively a man of prayer. Happy are the 
men of business w T ho possess and enjoy this 
spirit. Such do not permit their occupations 
to secularize their devotions, but they hallow 
their occupations by their devotions ; these, 
arm and animate them for those, and those 
brace and stimulate them for these. No one 
stands more in need of the ordinances of the 
sanctuary than he who is most afloat on the 
busy world ; none is more dependent on 
those ordinances for keeping alive the flame 
of godliness in his breast. At the same time 
none is more in danger of being estranged 
from the temple by the absorbing force of 
business, by the thirst for gain, and by the 
influence of surrounding example. None is 
more strongly tempted to let earthly cares 
encroach upon the Sabbath, and either to 



252 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

prefer the counting-house to the house 
of prayer, or to let the shadow of the 
former overcast the latter. It is, therefore, 
eminently fitting that those who are thus 
situated should avail themselves of all helps 
within their reach; and he who best knows 
both his dangers and the way to escape 
them, will most highly value the privileges 
afforded by the sanctuary of God's house. 

The arguments to dissuade Christians from 
" forsaking the assembling of themselves to- 
gether" are plain and unanswerable. God 
has clearly ordained public worship. He 
made man to be social ; social in virtue of 
his sorrows, his joys, his wants, his affections, 
his relationships. If he formed men to be 
social in things natural, he no less formed 
them to be social in things spiritual. The 
isolation of selfishness is of sin ; the union of 
love is of God. But union is cherished bj 
communion, and communion strengthened 
by united worship. The faithful ought 
therefore to assemble themselves together in 
their Master's name. Accordingly, fellow- 
ship in worship may be traced from the 
earliest period. It seems not improbable 
that, as our great poet has represented, even 
in paradise the primitive pair had some 
chosen bower whither they resorted to offer 



HIS ZEAL FOR THE SANCTUARY. 253 

up their stated homage to their Maker. But 
be that as it may, no sooner do we find men 
beginning to call upon the Lord after the fall, 
than we find them calling upon him in fellow- 
ship. Where the patriarch pitched his tent, 
there he built his altar; and round that altar 
the household statedly gathered themselves 
while the patriarchal priest offered the family 
sacrifices. Then as soon as ever God had 
singled out a people for himself, he bade 
them raise a tabernacle of witness and of 
worship, giving the minutest instructions for 
its construction, its furniture, and its ordinan- 
ces. He added this memorable promise, 
which remains in all its force, " Wherever I 
record my name I will come to thee and 
bless thee." And gloriously did he record 
his name — first in the tabernacle, and after- 
ward more gloriously still in the temple. 
He dwelt between the cherubim over the 
mercy-seat, and poured his blessing on all 
who truly sought him there. Passing on to 
the Christian dispensation, we find the as- 
semblies of the saints carefully cherished. 
Jesus honored the temple. He loved to re- 
sort to his Father's house. He was very 
jealous of its desecration; the zeal of it ate 
him up. There he was wont to teach ; there 
he wrought many miracles. After he had as- 



254 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

cended into heaven, his disciples loved to meet 
for worship, sometimes in the synagogue, 
sometimes in the upper chamber, sometimes 
at the river side, where prayer was wont 
to be made ; and no sooner did opportunity 
serve, than they set apart holy places for 
the ordinances and worship of God. They 
were mindful that the Holy Ghost had warn- 
ed them against " forsaking the assembling 
of themselves together, as the manner of 
some was." Indeed, the sentiment of the 
faithful in every age has been that of " the 
sweet singer of Israel :" — " One thing have I 
desired of the Lord, that will I seek after : 
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord 
forever, to behold the beauty of the Lord, 
and to inquire in his temple." If, therefore, 
any man have the mind of the Spirit — love 
the Saviour and those whom the Saviour 
loves — he cannot but say of the solemn 
assembly, " I will not forsake the house of 
my God." 

The special manifestations of the divine 
presence vouchsafed in the congregations 
of the saints ought to endear to us such 
privileged scenes. Never has the promise 
failed, " Where two or three are met to- 
gether in my name, there am I in the midst 
of them." Always have his chosen found, 



HIS ZEAL FOR THE SANCTUARY. 255 

that " the habitation of his house is the 
place where his honor dwelleth." They 
have sought and seen his " power and glory 
in the sanctuary." The history of the 
Church in all ages is rich in illustration of 
this fact. The patriarchal altar was many 
a time illumined from on high : the cloud 
of glory often rested on the tabernacle of 
witness. The mystic splendor which shone 
amid the wings of the cherubim, reflecting 
a radiance on the mercy- seat, (that symbol 
of the propitiation of Jesus,) testified that 
" God dwelt with men on the earth " — that 
"his dwelling-place was in Zion." There, 
by voices and by visions, by "Urim and 
Thummim," and by secret communications 
of his grace, he revealed himself to his peo- 
ple. And now — what though the temple, 
with its magnificent ceremonial and impres- 
sive ordinances has passed away — what 
though no visible Shekinah irradiates the 
simple house of prayer — have we no signs, 
no tokens left ? Have we not the substance 
instead of the shadow ; the spirit in lieu of 
the letter? If the carnal worshiper sees 
less — does not the spiritual worshiper see 
more abundant glory? " If the ministration 
of condemnation be glorious, much more 
doth the ministration of righteousness exceed 



256 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

in glory." Are there not still memorials of 
a present Lord among us — memorials sub- 
limely simple, exquisitely expressive — his 
blessed gospel — bis living sacraments — the 
preaching of his word? Neither are there 
lacking demonstrations of his power and love. 
His Spirit works mightily, and his cross puts 
forth its saving energy. True it is, that they 
who come not in faith find him not here ; 
but those who come believingly, hear a 
voice the unbelieving do not hear — feel a 
presence the unbelieving do not feel — enjoy 
a blessing the unbelieving cannot receive. 
If, then, God manifests himself surpassingly 
in the sanctuary ; if he has never failed to 
betoken his special favor toward the social 
services of his children ; it follows that they 
who love the Lord and love to meet him, 
cannot but say, "We will not forsake the 
house of our God." 

As the sanctuary has been the place of his 
rest, so has it been the scene where the Lord 
has imparted richest gifts to his worshipers. 
On the day of Pentecost it was, " when they 
were all with one accord in one place," that 
" suddenly there came a sound from heaven 
as of a rushing mighty wind, and filled all the 
house where they were sitting." And there 
appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of 






HIS ZEAL FOR THE SANCTUARY. 257 

fire, and it sat upon each of them : " and 
they were all filled with the Holy Ghost." 
It was when the multitude were gathered 
together to the preaching of the word, that 
God poured out such a blessing, that in one 
instance three thousand, and in another five 
thousand, were added to the Church. Pur- 
sue the history of the Church ever since, 
and you will find that of the multitudes of the 
believing, the largest proportion have been 
born for eternity in the house of God. It is 
there God has given the mightiest proofs of 
his power, and the brightest manifestations 
of his love. If not brought forth in the 
sanctuary, the saints have at least been 
nursed and nourished there. It is there 
they have spiritually eaten the flesh and 
drunk the blood of the Lamb of God ; there 
they have been strengthened with the hid- 
den manna of divine truth, and refreshed 
with living water drawn from the wells of 
salvation; there has God met with them, 
and answerd them from above the mercy- 
seat ; there have they received special tokens 
of his favor, and enjoyed precious first- 
fruits of the heavenly vintage. Many a 
time has the worshiper entered the sanc- 
tuary in darkness, and left it full of light; 
many a time has he entered it sorely beset 
17 



258 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

with temptations, but returned with the 
snare of the fowler broken; ofttimes has he 
cmne perplexed, and departed assured; 
eome burdened, and gone back enlarged; 
come prostrate, and gone back exalted; 
come mourning, and returned rejoicing; 
come cold, and gone back enkindled ; come 
secularized, and gone back spiritualized; 
come weary, and gone back revived ; come 
earthly-minded, and gone back heavenly- 
minded. And does not God still give testi- 
mony to the word of his grace, and to " the 
place where his honor dwelleth ? " Does he 
not still send down the fire from heaven to 
kindle the sacrifice on the altar of the heart, 
and give responses, breathed by the Spirit 
through the lively oracles, to the humble 
inquirer ? 

But the servant of God will love the courts 
of the Lord, and will not forsake them, be- 
cause in them he tastes most of heaven be- 
low. If he would realize to himself what 
heaven is, he cannot form a better concep- 
tion of it than by fixing on the happiest 
Sabbath and the happiest hour of worship 
on the happiest Sabbath he ever enjoyed in 
the assembly of the saints. Then and there, 
withdrawn from the world's vanities and dis- 
quietudes; then and there, abstracted from 



HIS ZEAL FOR THE SANCTUARY. 259 

things seen and temporal, and absorbed in 
things unseen and eternal; then and there, 
all tranquillity without and calm within ; 
then and there, faith almost turned into 
sight and hope into fruition — all earthly dis- 
tinctions forgotten, the poor and the rich all 
one in fellowship and love, the whole assem- 
bly in unison, like many instruments all true 
to one key-note ; then and there he has a 
miniature of heaven, he reaches the very 
vestibule of that temple not made with hands, 
where congregations never break up, and 
Sabbaths never end. He, then, who loves 
not such scenes on earth — how could he love 
the heavenly habitation of holiness? He 
who has no taste for the fellowship and the 
songs of the saints below, how would he 
weary of the ceaseless thanksgiving and the 
eternal communion of the glorified in immor- 
tality ? How can he expect to go to heaven, 
w T ho has no relish for the table which is 
spread with its first-fruits here ? And of all 
men, the busy, harassed, wearied, mercan- 
tile man, forced to plunge dayly into the 
dust and din of the world's mart, is the very 
man who most requires the refreshment and 
savor of the sanctuary. If the tradesman 
is not at least as earnest on the Sunday as 
he is on the Monday; if he is not as much 



260 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

bent on the merchandise of wisdom as he is 
on the gains of commerce ; if he never sighs 
for the return of the day of rest, while he 
longs for the day of traffic — such a one 
lias either never been crucified to the world, 
or else the world is regaining its hold on 
his heart. The spiritual vegetation of the 
soul will soon fade, if the soul thirst not 
for the dew which distills on the holy 
hill. Many can bear witness that a Sunday 
passed in living worship sheds a hallowing 
influence on the days of toil; and that the 
odor of sabbatical communion with God 
in the place where he has recorded his 
name, will hang round the heart throughout 
the secularity of the week. Some too can 
witness that when on the evening of the 
stated service, which forms the half-way 
well in the week, they have broken away 
from their places of business, and been 
glad to go up to the house of the Lord, rich 
has been the return of blessing and comfort 
into their bosoms. The very effort which 
the attendance costs makes the enjoyment 
all the greater. It is not a healthy sign of 
the times that our week evening services 
are not frequented as they once were. They 
furnish a surer test of thirst for the waters of 
life than do the services of the Sunday. Be- 






HIS ZEAL FOR THE SANCTUARY. 261 

sides, they are specially wholesome, as inter- 
rupting the current of earthly care, and sus- 
pending for a little the play of the over- 
wrought machinery of the mind. To the 
Christian man of business the evening of 
divine service should be reckoned as an en- 
gaged evening. And, as such men are exact 
in keeping their appointments with their 
fellows, much more should they be scrupu- 
lous in keeping their appointments with their 
Maker. Alas! with what punctuality do 
many frequent the counting-house, who are 
seldom seen in the solemn assembly ! How 
many hasten with eager steps to their buy- 
ing, and selling, and getting gain, who re- 
pair with lingering pace to the scene where 
they ought to transact the affairs of eter- 
nity! What numbers who never think of 
contenting themselves with a single visit to 
the warehouse on the Monday, yet content 
themselves with a solitary attendance at 
church on the Sunday ! What numbers are 
all alive and alert in the exchange, who are 
sluggish and uninterested in waiting on 
God ! — as though the toys and shadows of 
time and earth surpassed in magnitude 
and moment the illimitable realities of im- 
mortality ! 

And now, having suggested some simple 



2(52 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

reasons why we should not forsake the 
house of prayer — whatever be the name it 
bears, if only God is worshiped there in 
truth, and the name of the Lord Jesus is 
magnified, and his word and ordinances are 
faithfully administered — let us consider a 
few plain arguments why we should cling 
steadfastly to the Church of our fathers — or 
to that religious body or denomination to 
which in the order of Providence we have 
become attached, uphold it, and defend it, 
and do it good. This we may do without 
tending to narrow our charity — while we 
most assuredly increase our stability. We 
ought to appreciate our own privileges, with- 
out judging or despising others. 

In recommending a steadfast adherence 
to the Church of our early associations, it is 
presumed that that Church is Scriptural in 
its creed, and evangelical in its practices. 
If, on a fair and candid investigation of the 
subject, one becomes persuaded that the 
doctrines taught in his Church are not in 
harmony with the Holy Scriptures, that 
they are defective as to certain essential 
truths, or are erroneous on radical and vital 
points, then is it plainly his duty to with- 
draw himself from such a Church, and seek 
another and more Scriptural one. The same 



HIS ZEAL FOR THE SANCTUARY. 263 

great law which gives to every man the 
right to examine and judge of the doctrines 
he hears from the pulpit, devolves on him 
the responsibility of hearing the truth, and 
turning away from error. So likewise, if 
with a Scriptural creed, and a ministration 
of doctrines not positively opposed to the 
gospel, are associated unscriptural observ- 
ances ; or, if there is a practical disregard 
of religious duties, and the activities of 
Christianity, then may even an orthodox 
Church be forsaken, because its orthodoxy is 
only that of the letter, and not of the spirit. 
But even in such cases great caution should 
be used. Objections should be w T ell exam- 
ined before they are received as altogether 
valid. The Scriptures must be carefully and 
thoroughly studied before it is safe to form 
a system, varying in important points from 
that in which the inquirer was educated; 
and especially must such an examination be 
prosecuted with a mind sincerely desiring 
to come at the truth — open, ingenuous, and 
not prepossessed. 

Nor is it safe always to reject one's Church 
whenever it is found that some of its less 
important doctrines or practices are not well 
sustained by the word of God. Many things 
pertaining to ecclesiastical affairs are left 



264 V MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

undetermined by the Scriptures, and so are 
matters to be regulated by human knowl- 
edge and discretion. Nor is it strange that 
what is so determined by fallible men should 
be imperfectly done. But as the whole sub- 
ject is one of expediency, it will often be 
found better to endure the imperfection of 
what is established, than to forego its advan- 
tages. And of the more vital points that 
pertain to the substance of gospel truth, not 
every degree of error is fatal to the truth 
with which it is mingled. Much of the dif- 
ference found among genuine Protestant 
Churches is rather in modes of statement 
than in the substance of the doctrine set 
forth. Doubtless there are real differences ; 
nor are these wholly unimportant, though they 
are for the most part non-essential. It is at 
least the part of wisdom to be slow to con- 
demn as very wide of the truth, the faith in 
which we have been educated, and by whose 
agency w r e have been brought to the knowl- 
edge of salvation, until thorough and pray- 
erful examination has settled in our minds 
the conviction of its real and radical errone- 
ousn< 

Especially should we be slow to make any 
such changes on account of the differences 
of ecclesia>tical orders found among different 



HIS ZEAL FOR THE SAJSTCTUARY. 265 

religious bodies. Few questions have been 
canvassed with so much learned diligence, 
as those relating to the forms of Church 
government, and the essential conditions of 
churchship ; and if all this learned inquiry 
has made anything evident, it is that no form 
of administration may claim especial favor, 
either from the word of God or from its prac- 
tical workings among men. Churches of all 
forms of government are found to be about 
equally successful, or otherwise, in edifying 
their own members, and in turning sinners 
to righteousness, according as they more or 
less faithfully set forth the great truths of 
religion, and employ the appliances of the 
gospel in their ministration. The unerring 
notes of genuine churchship are to be chiefly 
sought, not in outward signs and accidental 
circumstances ; but in the evidences of the 
divine favor manifested in the gifts of the 
Holy Ghost, building up the faithful and 
obedient, and arresting and reclaiming the 
outcast and disobedient. At various times 
and places this saving power has been man- 
ifested in nearly all religious denominations 
among whom the great doctrines of Chris- 
tianity have been cherished. Let each, 
therefore, abide in the relations in which 
Providence has placed him, unless some 



268 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

better reason fof change is found. The 
same considerations apply with equal force 
to the subject of ceremonies and forms of 
worship. It is certain that the Holy Scrip- 
tures have left these things undetermined ; 
and thus clearly imply that they constitute 
no part of the essence of Christianity. There 
is, also, an abundance of evidence that they 
have been often modified and arranged to 
suit external and accidental circumstances ; 
and in all these various circumstances the 
same blessed influences have followed the 
use of the means of grace. Prayer is an- 
swered without regard to the bodily posture 
of the suppliant ; the holy supper becomes a 
spiritual feeding upon Christ, whether re- 
ceived kneeling or sitting, if received in 
simple gospel faith ; and the word of divine 
truth is equally the power of God unto sal- 
vation to all them that believe, whether 
dispensed by ministers of one order or an- 
other. 

But while these things seem to be altogeth- 
er indifferent, it is often the case that the 
tilings which we have learned to associate 
with our holy exercises receive from them 
a relative sacredness, which we may not dis- 
rd without serious loss. The early forms 
of our worship are often inseparably united 



HIS ZEAL FOR THE SANCTUARY. 267 

with that sacred exercise in our after life ; 
things indifferent in themselves become in- 
calculably important to us by association, so 
that to separate from them would often be 
equivalent to an abandonment of the services 
of the sanctuary. The Christian man of 
business is zealous for the sanctuary — the 
Church in its general and diffused character, 
on account of its essential excellence, and its 
practical utility among men. Contemplat- 
ing it in its wide extension, the real " holy 
catholic Church," he feels that by his con- 
nection with it, he is associated with the pious 
and holy of all lands, and in all ages. Over- 
looking mere outward forms and sensible 
signs, and disregarding names and conven- 
tional observances, he recognizes all who 
hold the common Head as his brethren, and 
fellow-heirs of God in Christ Jesus. Look- 
ing backward along the past ages of the 
Church's history, he recognizes its verity not 
only under the gospel dispensation, but pass- 
ing beyond he finds it established on Mount 
Zion, or dwelling in the tabernacle in the 
wilderness, or in Abraham's tent at Moreh, 
or in the ark with the few faithful ones found 
in the earth, or among the older patriarchs 
with whom God spake face to face, and 
among whom were cherished the same faith 



268 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

and hope that now animate and sustain the 
Church in the glory of the gospel day. Of 
this "chosen generation" lie feels himself to 
be a member, and in this he exults more 
tli an in all worldly honors. To be one of 
that "peculiar race" he feels to be an honor 
greater than the world can bestow r ; and as 
he values the honor thus laid upon him, his 
love for the source of his honor is enhanced. 
lie also finds great excellence in the sanctuary, 
since to it belong the great doctrinal truths 
of the gospel, and the holy ordinances 
through which it is brought to operate to 
the salvation of those who use them. Though 
he may seem to set but little value on the ab- 
struse questions of theology that have divided 
good men, yet in the essential truths of that 
system he finds an ever-enduring worth. 
Like the Psalmist, he delights in the law of 
the Lord, and from his love of the blessed 
word he meditates upon it day and night. 
He also finds a sacred delight in the ordin- 
ances of worship and means of grace thus 
afforded to him. And because of the honor 
which God has laid upon the Church, in 
making it the depository of his truth and the 
dispenser of his grace, he too delights in the 
spiritual Zion, and loves the courts of the 
Lord's house. 



HIS ZEAL FOR THE SANCTUARY. 269 

The society into which he is brought, as a 
worshiper in the house of his God, is such 
as he most heartily delights in. Yery possi- 
bly he may there mingle with a company, 
the social position of many of whom are be- 
low his own ; but here the rich and the poor 
meet together on a perfect level, as children 
of a common Father, and heirs to the same 
glorious heritage. Here kindred spirits 
unite in common and joint acts of prayer 
and praise, while from the assembled band 
goes up a sweet incense to the throne of God. 
Though not blind to the frailties and imper- 
fections of truly good men, and though com- 
pelled, however reluctantly, to believe that 
some with whom he meets in the guise of 
Christians are not what they would seem to 
be, he is, nevertheless, still convinced that 
in that association alone may he look for 
those characteristics of mind and heart in 
which he chiefly delights. There the pious 
ones meet together, drawn by a common at- 
traction, and in obedience to the same great 
commandments. There only does he hope 
to find true virtue ; for he knows that such 
virtue can only flourish when rooted in piety, 
and piety always leads its subjects to the 
sanctuary. While he contemplates these 
things he finds cause to bless God for the 



270 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

distinguishing mercy through which his lot 

was cast among such favorable circumstances, 
and in the fullness of his confidence in the 
divine beneficence, he is ready to exclaim, 
" Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me 
all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in 
the house of the Lord forever." 

The genuine Christian has a high regard 
for the sanctuary, because of the happy 
influences which come through it and its 
ordinances to the world. Knowing from his 
own experience something of the evil of sin, 
and seeing all around him the moral dark- 
ness and consequent degradation that sin is 
producing in the world, he looks to the sanc- 
tuary — the power of a vital Christianity em- 
bodied and set forth in the doctrines and or- 
dinances of the Church — for the only ade- 
quate remedy. He knows that there is 
" balm in Gilead, and a physician there." 
He has seen somewhat of the healing efficacy 
of the gospel ; and as he pities the ruin of 
our fallen race, he loves the means provided 
for their recovery and salvation. And he 
has confidence in its power to save. In 
himself it lias proved its sufficiency to save 
from guilt and guilty fears ; from the powers 
of the carnal mind, and the slavery of the 
world; and by the same "Holy Spirit of 



HIS ZEAL FOR THE SANCTUARY. 271 

promise" is he " sealed unto the day of eter- 
nal redemption." 

As a Christian he is often occupied in 
efforts to do good to the souls and bodies of 
men, " to visit the fatherless and the widow 
in their afflictions," to carry consolation to 
the house of woe, and as far as in him lies to 
diminish the fearful sum of human groans and 
tears and bitter lamentations. And while 
thus dealing with wretchedness and sorrow, 
he cannot fail to see how very intimately is 
all this connected with sin. He would, if it 
were possible, dry up these streams of sorrow; 
but this, he very well knows, can only be 
done by staunching the fountain of sin in the 
depraved hearts of men — a work to which 
all human agencies are utterly inadequate. 
But he also knows that there is power in 
the gospel equal to this apparent impossibil- 
ity — that the word of God's truth, dispensed 
according to God's appointment, and accom- 
panied by the energy of the divine Spirit, is 
able to transform the polluted and fallen 
ones of earth into children of grace and 
heirs of eternal life. He has learned, both 
by instruction and experience, that there is, 
agreeable to the ancient prophecy, " opened in 
the house of David and to the inhabitants of 
Jerusalem ;" that is, in the Church of Christ, 



272 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

and for all who come to enjoy its sacred 
privileges, "a fountain that cleanses from 
sin and from transgression." Because of the 
happy influence of the streams from this 
fountain, which he meets with on every side, 
as a friend to his race he loves the sanctuary 
of his God. 

In this good work he finds, too, that he is 
not alone. Others are also engaged in like 
efforts to do good. But who are they whom 
he finds thus engaged ? Are they the pro- 
fane, the godless, the unbelieving, and the 
revilers of religion ? Far from it. It may, 
indeed, be conceded that some not personal- 
ly devout have been beneficent and humane ; 
but even such have been made what they 
are by influences emanating from Christian- 
ity, and their "good w r orks" should injustice 
be set down to the credit of religion. But 
while it is gladly conceded that some who 
are not pious toward God are kindly dis- 
posed toward men, it must also be asserted 
that this is much rather the exception than 
the general rule in such matters. As we 
know that the devout man is a benevolent 
one, so we shall not often err if we conclude 
that the benevolent man is also a devout 
worshiper of his God. It is a fact known 
to all who inquire into these things, that our 



HIS ZEAL FOR THE SANCTUARY. 273 

vital Christianity — the religion inculcated in 
our evangelical congregations, and professed 
by those who, with the name of Christ, re- 
ceive also his law as the rule of their con- 
duct and his Spirit as the guide of their life 
— that this only seems sufficient to actuate 
and sustain the efforts needful to mitigate 
human sufferings and carry consolation to 
the house of woe. 

He sees, too, that almost every instance of 
combined efforts and instituted agencies for 
this purpose have had their origin in the 
Church, or under its immediate influences. 
Wherever the Church has been set up and 
gained for itself a place among the active 
social institutions of the people, there is 
found the hospital for the sick, the asylum 
for the insane, the alms-house for the desti- 
tute, and the prison, a place of refuge and 
restraint for the vicious and injurious. The 
Church itself, in its special organization, for 
ages filled these important offices, and now 
accomplishes the same good purposes, in part 
through her own appliances, and in part 
through other agencies to which the Spirit 
of the gospel, diffused in community, has 
given rise : so that he who delights in see- 
ing " good works" multiplied among men; 

who sympathizes with sorrow, and with the 
18 



274 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

joy that succeeds to sorrow redressed, should 
confess and honor the source of all these 
blessings. The good man whom God has in- 
structed in the way — the Christian man of 
business whose acquaintance with the prac- 
tical workings of things enables him to judge 
correctly in these matters, sees at once their 
happy results, and the spring from which 
they rise. He traces the thousand rivulets 
that irrigate this arid waste of sin and mis- 
ery back to its fountain in the divine good- 
ness; a fountain which pours its streams 
through the sanctuary, for the healing of the 
people. And in the same degree that he 
loves his fellow-men, and pities the misery 
of the outcast and degraded, he learns to 
honor the Church of his God, and is inclined 
to promote her elevation and influence in 
the world. Caring at once for the temporal 
and the eternal interests of those about him, 
he seeks to promote both by extending the 
praises of the house of God. Let our Chris- 
tian men of business consider these things, 
nor rob the house of God of its just honor 
and service, lest in so doing they rob their 
own souls. Let them carry the habitual 
promptness and punctuality of their secular 
callings into the affairs of religion. As they 
go early to their places of daily occupation, 



HIS ZEAL FOR THE SANCTUARY. 275 

so should they, at the proper time, hasten to 
the house of prayer. Let the man who is 
busiest in his worldly affairs during the six 
days of labor, be also the most diligent man 
on the Sabbath. If he is seen to be all life 
during the former, and all listlessness during 
the other, he but too plainly indicates that his 
heart is not set on the things above. And 
if he has no relish for the brief services of 
the earthly tabernacle, how would the unend- 
ing worship of the eternal temple pall upon 
his taste ! Let, then, no suitable opportuni- 
ty be passed unimproved ; the one carelessly 
omitted may be the very one designed by 
infinite Goodness to be the vehicle of the 
richest blessings. Nor is it less important to 
love and cherish in our hearts the sanctuary, 
than to frequent its services, and wait upon 
its ordinances. To love the house of God — - 
" the place where his honor dwelleth," is a 
condition on which depends much of the ad- 
vantage offered us in the sanctuary. And 
this favor must be manifested in correspond- 
ing actions. Our free-will offerings must be 
given in the spirit, if not in the measure, of 
her who " cast all her living" into the treas- 
ury. There has, indeed, been a great im- 
provement in this matter within a few years 
past. Much has been done, both by pecu- 



276 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

niary contributions and by personal efforts, 
to meet the religious demands of the age. 
In this all good men do and will rejoice. 
There is still, however, a wide and necessi- 
tous field to be cultivated ; nor should any 
who are jealous of the honor of God's house 
cease from their efforts till the Church em- 
brace and bless our whole race. Here let 
our "young men" who "are strong, and 
have overcome the evil one," put forth their 
patient efforts to do good. Here let our 
men of wealth consecrate their riches and 
their energies. Too often we see this class 
of persons pursuing quite another course — a 
course as disadvantageous to the temporal as 
the eternal interests of themselves and their 
families. They build magnificent mansions, 
they purchase lordly estates, they bequeath 
unwieldly heritages to their posterity — to be 
spent, perhaps, in gambling, debauchery and 
show — to prove a snare and curse to them. 
Is not this to walk in a vain show ? Is not 
this to "sow the wind and reap the whirl- 
wind?" Rather should they "make them- 
selves friends of the mammon of unrighte- 
ousness ;" better were it for them to love the 
people of God, and build synagogues for his 
worship ; and so would they lay up in store 
for themselves a good foundation against the 



HIS ZEAL FOR THE SANCTUARY. 277 

time of trouble. Here is an ambition wor- 
thy of a renovated and undying soul. 

The times call for this kind of Christian 
activity and devotedness. Strong and subtle 
foes are actively striving against the cause 
of Christ. On the one hand is seen the wily 
machination of Anti-Christ, attempting to 
subvert our social and religious privileges, 
and to bring us into the bondage from which 
our fathers of the Reformation, by the grace 
of God, freed themselves, and their Church 
and country. On the other is covert infidel- 
ity, assuming the guise of a specious liberal- 
ism, but which is intensely and almost ex- 
clusively hostile to the spirit and institutions 
of our holy religion. The greed of gain, so 
characteristic of the present age, is power- 
fully antagonistic to the unworldly spirit 
of the gospel, and the unblushing boldness 
with which long-condemned practices are 
now recommended in high places, all indi- 
cate that the time of conflict is not past, and 
that whoever is on the Lord's side should 
boldly assert his position and vigorously 
maintain the cause of truth and right. Un- 
der God, our land has yet been preserved in 
the enjoyment of a pure Protestant Chris- 
tianity ; let every patriot remember that our 
Protestantism and our liberties must stand 



278 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

or fall together. The whole world is looking 
to this and other Protestant countries for the 
maintenance of the pure gospel, and the vin- 
dication of the sacred freedom to worship 
God according to his word. May he equip 
and strengthen his people for the struggle ! 
and may it appear in the event, that accord- 
ing to the promise, " Thy people are willing 
in the day of thy power." 



HIS ZEAL FOR THE SABBATH. 279 



CHAPTER XHL 

HIS ZEAL FOR THE SABBATH. 

As God appointed his holy day for the indi- 
vidual to keep it to his glory, so he appointed 
it for the nation as a sign of his covenant with 
a people. Yiewed in this light, the dese- 
cration or the sanctification of the day of 
rest is largely the criterion of a Christian 
country's faithfulness or infidelity ; and will 
prove, in the long run, a main hinge of the 
prosperity or the downfall of that kingdom. 
It was in this view that God spoke of his 
day, when he said, " Hallow my Sabbaths, 
and they shall be a sign between me and 
you, that ye may know that I am the Lord 
your God." It was in this view he spoke of 
it when he declared that he would pour 
forth his fury upon Israel because they had 
defiled his Sabbaths ; and it was in the same 
light he regarded it, when he said, " If ye 
will not hearken unto me to hallow the Sab- 
bath-day, and not to bear a burden even 
entering in at the gates of Jerusalem, on the 
Sabbath-day, then will I kindle a fire in 
the gates thereof, and it shall devour the 



280 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be 
quenched." As God threatened, so he did. 
The desecration of his day was one of the 
most crying of the sins of Israel. Their dis- 
persion, desolation, and captivity were the 
consequence. And when God had brought 
back a remnant, who had restored the tem- 
ple, and raised from ruin the walls of their 
holy city — everything depended on their 
faithfulness to God, on their steadfastness in 
his covenant. Then, too, their pious leader 
showed himself not more jealous for the 
honor of the house and the name of his 
God, than for the authority and sanctity of 
the Sabbath. 

We are now to consider the subject of the 
holy day, the Christian Sabbath, and the 
man of business in his relations to it, how 
he ought to recognize and uphold its author- 
ity, how he ought to enter into its spirit, 
and how he ought to realize its blessings. 
These three branches of illustration will 
make up the subject matter of this chapter. 

In the outset, it behooves us solemnly to 
recognize the divine authority of the day of 
rest. We ought to be fully persuaded in 
our minds on this point. It underlies all 
the rest. If a man be loose and speculative 
here, it is clear that he will be capricious 



HIS ZEAL FOR THE SABBATH. 281 

and unreal in his observance of the ordin- 
ance. It is strange that there should ever 
have arisen any question in the case, so 
manifest is the mind of God on the subject. 
The doubt can hardly have sprung from the 
head ; it must have originated in the heart 
— the " evil heart of unbelief." Men have 
disliked the restraint of the day, and have, 
therefore, set to work to weaken its obliga- 
tion. Alas ! that some from whom better 
things might have been expected, should 
have lent the weight of their names to such 
an attempt. They must not, however, influ- 
ence us — to the law and to the testimony 
alone we appeal. 

The time and purpose of the institution of 
the Sabbath ought to silence all controversy 
as to the universality and perpetuity of its ob- 
ligation. It was instituted for Adam in the 
time of his innocency, when the whole hu- 
man race was yet in his loins ; it could not 
therefore be designed for a particular peo- 
ple ; it must have been intended for man- 
kind in general. It was ordained in com- 
memoration of an event which equally 
relates to all generations — the consumma- 
tion of the work of creation. The ordin- 
ance was consequently as long anterior 
to the Mosaic law, as was man himself. 



282 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

That law did not therefore enact — it only 
confirmed, the law of the Sabbath. It is 
true that Scripture history is silent respect- 
ing the observance till the time that Israel 
sojourned in the wilderness; but it is no less 
true that Scripture history is silent on sev- 
eral other salient subjects during the same 
period. Meantime we have strong presump- 
tive evidence that it was sanctified from the 
beginning by those who called upon the 
name of the Lord, though its sanctification 
by them is unrecorded. For when it is 
again brought to view, it is an ordinance re- 
cognized and regarded by the Israelites, 
and that antecedently to the giving of the 
law from Sinai. When receiving instruc- 
tions respecting the gathering of the manna, 
they were simply directed to gather and pre- 
pare a double portion on the sixth day, be- 
cause the morrow would be " the rest of the 
holy Sabbath unto the Lord." Thus the 
institution reappears on the current of 
inspired history, not as a stranger, but as a 
familiar friend — as acknowledged by the 
people, and upholden by God. This reason- 
ing is greatly strengthened by the mode of 
expression employed by God when, on Sinai, 
he enacted afresh the law of paradise. He 
said not, Thou shalt keep holy the Sabbath- 



HIS ZEAL FOR THE SABBATH. 283 

day; but, "Remember the Sabbath-day to 
keep it holy." Clearly, therefore, this com- 
mandment enforced what was known, not 
what was new. 

And where did the Almighty Lawgiver 
place the precept when he proclaimed it 
afresh ? Was it among the ritualistic or the 
political institutes of Israel ? Was it among 
the typical arid the transitory? Had he 
done so, it might have been inferred that 
the obligation of the observance was limited 
to one nation, and peculiar to one economy. 
But the divine finger wrote the command 
in the very center of the moral law. It is 
placed as the golden clasp that binds both 
tables of the law together — duty to God 
and duty to man. Since, then, God em- 
bodied it in the moral law, who shall dare 
to tear it thence ? If he has designated it 
as a moral precept, who shall presume to set 
it aside as a positive one ? He who has the 
hardihood to blot out the fourth might just as 
well obliterate the sixth or the seventh com- 
mand. The same authority which makes 
the latter, makes the former binding. He, 
therefore, that should keep the whole law, 
and yet offend in this one point, would be 
guilty of all ; for he would snap the chain 
which binds the whole upon us. 



284 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

And let us not forget that the ten com- 
mandments are surrounded with a surpass- 
ing majesty and awfulness. Other injunc- 
tions were given mediately through Moses, 
who wrote them and communicated them to 
the people. But God himself, from his 
pavilion of darkness, proclaimed the moral 
law. Sinai was all in a flame — the moun- 
tains trembled — the trumpet pealed — the 
thunder roared — the lightnings blazed — ■ 
while the voice of Deity was proclaiming — 
" Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it 
holy." Afterward, in common with the 
other nine commands, it was engraven on 
tables of stone by the Creator's hand ; and 
ultimately lodged in the ark of the covenant, 
beneath the mercy-seat, within the mystic 
precincts of " the Holy of Holies." 

Passing from the law to the prophets, we 
find that in most of their writings, and espe- 
cially in those of Isaiah, the holy day is 
signally magnified; heavy judgments are 
denounced against those who violate, and 
glorious promises made to those who hal- 
low it. And when we come to the New 
Testament, though there is no express repe-| 
tition of the commandment, yet Christ him- 
self glorified it by his obedience, and rati- 
fied rather than relaxed its universal author- 



HIS ZEAL FOR THE SABBATH. 285 

ity, by declaring, "The Sabbath was made 
for man." Here, however, we are encoun- 
tered by what seems to many a formidable 
difficulty — -the gradual transfer of the Sab- 
bath rest from the last to the first day of the 
week. To some, it seems that the force of the 
divine command has thus been neutralized. 
Yet, why should this circumstance affect the 
stringency of the precept ? Why should not 
the sacredness of the institution continue on 
whatever day it may please God that it 
should be observed ? The essence of the or- 
dinance lies in the dedication of one day in 
the seven to God, not in the precise day that 
is devoted. This, reason itself would infer, 
since it would be impossible for the same 
identical time to be kept by the faithful in 
all parts of the earth. The mode of expres- 
sion used in the commandment, as it is given 
in Scripture, leads to the same inference; for 
though through some strange oversight it is 
said in the English Prayer-book that God 
blessed the seventh day and hallowed it ; in the 
Bible it is written, " God blessed the Sabbath- 
day and hallowed it." So the consecration 
and the blessing were attached to the day of 
holy rest, not to the seventh day absolutely. 
Yea, and even under the old dispensation 
was there not intimation of a new and no- 



286 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

bier Sabbath? How else can we understand 
the Psalmist, when he says, " The stone 
which the builders refused, is become the 
head-stone of the corner. This is the Lord's 
doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This 
is the day which the Lord hath made — we 
will rejoice and be glad in it?" Surely it 
was indicated here, that as the consumma- 
tion of the first creation was immortalized 
by the setting apart of a holy birthday to 
commemorate it ; so the elevation of the top- 
stone in the second creation — when the Re- 
deemer had finished his work of atonement, 
burst the bars of death, and led captivity cap- 
tive — should have its own special day of high 
commemoration — overshadowing, but not 
superseding, the memory of the former. 
Was it not meet that so it should be ? For 
if the first work had glory, how much does 
the second excel in glory ! 

" 'Twas great to speak a world from naught, 

'Twas greater to redeem." 

Redemption has eclipsed creation, as the 
risen sun shrouds with his splendor the 
morning star. Besides, the Sabbath of the 
seventh day was dimmed, for it reminded us 
of Eden lost through sin; but the Sabbath 
of the first day is glorious, for it tells us of 



HIS ZE.iL FOR THE SABBATH. 287 

Paradise restored through grace — and points 
to the endless Sabbath rest that " remaineth 
to the people of God." Beautifully and be- 
fittingly, therefore, did Jesus rise on the first 
day of the week, instead of on the seventh, 
and so hallow and bless " the Lord's day" 
— making it the first-fruits of our time, as 
he is " the first-fruits of them that slept." 
In like manner, all his chief appear- 
ances, after his resurrection, were on his 
own selected day. On that day, too, the 
promised Spirit was poured out upon the 
apostles, and " cloven tongues like as of fire" 
rested on their heads. It was on that day 
the disciples were wont to meet together for 
breaking of bread and for prayer. It was 
on that day, "when the disciples came to- 
gether to break bread," that Paul preached 
unto them at Troas, " ready to depart on the 
morrow, and continued his speech until mid- 
night." It was of that day the apostle John 
spake in the opening of the Apocalypse, 
when he said, " I was in the Spirit on the 
Lord's day" — thus proving that the first day 
of the week was recognized even then by 
the universal Church as the day of the £ord. 
And throughout all subsequent ages, has 
not the Lord set his seal abundantly on the 
Christian Sabbath? 



2SS A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

There is, then, ample proof that the day 
of rest is bound upon us by the law of God ; 
that it is no less a clear duty, than it is an 
unspeakable privilege, to keep it holy. As 
such, the Spirit writes it on every renovated 
heart. The appeal may be made to the 
holiest of the saints. Has He not manifest- 
ed himself on that day as on none beside ? 
Has not great grace preeminently rested on 
its solemn assemblies ? Has it not been the 
birthday of unnumbered souls ? Has it not 
been a season of special refreshing and edify- 
ing to the flock of Christ? Is it not rich in 
holy memorials, gracious records, heavenly 
traditions ? In every age and clime have not 
his children been all taught of God to prize 
and reverence his day ? Have they not had 
the fourth commandment, as distinctly as the 
other commandments, written " on the fleshly 
tables of their heart" — so that spontaneously, 
not as of compulsion, but of taste and choice, 
they have "remembered the Sabbath-day 
to keep it holy?" Thus the Spirit in the 
heart has witnessed with the Spirit in the 
word, that the obligation of the ordinance 
abides, while the blessedness of the ordinance 
is mhcuKk d. 

Now, therefore, let us contemplate the 
spirit in which the man of business ought 



HIS ZEAL FOR THE SABBATH. 289 

to keep the day. He should keep it with a 
solemn reverence of mind. Whatever per- 
tains immediately to God challenges honor 
and solemnity. Whatever he has inscribed 
with " holiness unto the Lord," must be sa- 
cred to us. And he has said, " Reverence 
my Sabbaths :" he teaches us to call them 
" honorable;" he " hallowed" the day which 
lie set apart for himself. Far from us, there- 
fore, be lightness and frivolity, secularity 
and distraction, carnal indulgence, or heart- 
less indifference, on the day of God. Let it 
always shed upon our souls a soothing influ- 
ence, a vivid sense of things unseen. 

At the same time, the day which God 
blessed ought not to be a day of severity 
and gloom. They scarcely honor it more 
who observe it morosely and ascetically, 
than they do who turn it into an occasion of 
mirth and frivolity. We are told to call it 
"a delight." It is a festival to the Lord. 
We should put on " the garment of praise," 
not " the spirit of heaviness," when we hear 
the sweet chime of its bells. We should 
" enter into his gates with thanksgiving, 
and into his courts with praise." The deep- 
est joy is serious and chastened. We should 
be sober, yet be glad ; and adorn the day 

with holy cheerfulness. Our servants, our 
19 



290 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

children, our friends, should see that we en- 
joy the ordinance; that it is congenial to 
our spirit ; that it is to us a foretaste of the 
rest of heaven — a day we would like to have 
last forever. Never let us forget that if the 
brief Sabbath of earth be a weariness to us, 
how wearisome would that Sabbath be pro- 
tracted to all eternity ! Yet an everlasting 
Sabbath-keeping is one of the most beautiful 
and expressive conceptions which the Holy 
Ghost gives us of the ceaseless fruition of 
those who shall be accounted worthy to en- 
ter the kingdom of heaven. 

The great thing is, to enter into the spirit 
of the day, not to rest in the cold letter. To 
refrain from secular occupations, to forego 
worldly pleasures, to abstain from vain con- 
versation, to give special attention to the 
Bible, to be punctual and decorous in the 
services of the sanctuary — all this is well; 
but all this may be, and yet the day be un- 
sanctified in His sight who searches the 
heart. The soul must be attuned to the day. 
The outward demeanor must be the reflec- 
tion of the inward frame. The mind must 
be disencumbered of its burdens, disentan- 
gled from its cares, and, like the unchained 
eagle, set free to mount up into communion 
with God. This is the essence of the observe 



HIS ZEAL FOR THE SABBATH. 291 

ance. This must give reality and life to all. 
Then will our Sabbaths be to us vestiges of 
paradise, green spots in our pilgrimage 
through the wilderness, where we will find 
our freshest springs, and where we will 
breathe an atmosphere cooled with the dews 
of heaven. Then will we wish to lengthen, 
not to abridge the hours. Then will we ask, 
not how much, but how little we can attend 
to things below on the day set apart for 
" things above." It is the lack of this sab- 
batic tone that leads so many, who name the 
name of Christ, to while away the day in 
listless trifling, or to weave excuses for en- 
croaching on its precincts. By one, urgent 
business letters must be read, if not written, 
on the day ; by another, impending sickness 
is staved off till the leisure day which can 
best be spared for nursing it ; because they 
are only spiritual concerns that then demand 
attention ; a third steals a few hours for jour- 
neying, because it is the genteel day on 
which to travel, and because, by setting out 
betimes, he can reach his destination soon 
enough to attend the evening service ; or, 
having attended church in the forenoon at 
home, he can afterward so improve the 
time as to gain the point where he wishes to 
begin his business with the Monday's dawn 



292 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

— thus, with wondrous dexterity, saving 
time, yet satisfying conscience! Are not 
these things so? Are not many carried 
away by conformity to the usages of the 
world in this matter — " by reason of whom 
the way of godliness is evil spoken of?" 
And are, then, the engagements of the holy 
day so insignificant ? Can they be so lightly 
postponed to the calls of secular avocations? 
Is one-seventh of our time too much to de- 
vote exclusively to eternity? Are the in- 
terests and destinies of immortality subordi- 
nate to the gains and losses of threescore years 
and ten ? Have we so learned Christ ? so 
weighed the worth of the soul ? so estimated 
the price with which it was bought? 

Our influence with our servants and de- 
pendents must be used in support of the day 
of rest. Not only ought we to shrink from 
unnecessarily employing them either for our 
pleasure or our profit ; not only ought we to 
secure to them full opportunity to enjoy the 
services of the sanctuary ; but we ought to 
see to it that they avail themselves of the 
opportunity afforded. Sad will it be, should 
we give them occasion to infer that the holy 
day lias no holiness for them ; that for us it 
has its obligations and its duties, but that for 
them it has neither; that their toil is never 



HIS ZEAL FOR THE SABBATH. 293 

to be relaxed — their salvation never worked 
out. Strive to make it to them, as to your- 
selves, the brightest, the most refreshing day 
of the seven. 

In order to sanctify the Sabbath, and arrest 
the current of secularity, which is all too apt 
to overflow the fences of the day, it is highly 
important that our mercantile men should 
have what the Jews of old had — " the prepa- 
ration," when the Sabbath draws on. Hap- 
py, therefore, will it be, if recent arrange- 
ments for suspending business at an early 
hour on the Saturday should enable the 
Christian merchant not only to close his 
counting-house betimes, but to abstract his 
mind from his speculations, his risks, and 
his responsibilities — lest haply, like the 
money-changers and sellers of doves in the 
temple, he should virtually, though not ac- 
tually, make the house of God " a den of 
thieves." Much depends on the attitude 
and readiness in which we await the day. 
We ought, as it is so graphically said in the 
book of Isaiah, to "turn away our foot" from 
the Sabbath — to halt on its confines, lest in 
our eager career we should overleap the di- 
vine barrier, and with our shoes still on our 
feet desecrate the sacred inclosure. 

The man who is earnest in hallowing the 



2D4 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

Sabbath himself, cannot fail to be zealous for 
its observance by his neighborhood and his 
nation. lie cannot therefore but " sigh and 
ctv for all the abominations" which defile 
the holy season in our own land; for the 
dissipation and profaneness which rush down 
our streets ; for our open beer-houses ; for our 
scenes of bacchanalian carousal and blasphe- 
mous diversion ; for our pleasure gardens 
and musical saloons, alluring thousands of 
the young and heedless into the pitfalls of 
ruin which they conceal. And what shall 
be said of the gigantic profanations of the 
Sabbath which are not only sanctioned, but 
even required by the laws of the land? 
"What of our postal regulations, enforcing, as 
they do, an almost unrelieved amount of toil 
on tens of thousands of our fellow-citizens ? 
It is not that we want a law to compel the 
observance of the day. What we need is a 
law to restrain men in authority from forcing 
their dependents to violate the day. It is 
not that we can make men religious by au- 
thority of government ; but we can, by legis- 
lative enactment, restrict employers from 
constraining those whom they employ to be 
irreligious. As it is, existing laws counten- 
ance, nay, in some instances, demand, the 
infringement of the divine law. By moral. 



HIS ZEAL FOK THE SABBATH. 295 

though not by physical force, multitudes are 
compelled to be Sabbath-breakers, or to suf- 
fer great disadvantages for conscience' sake. 
Over these things, every one who is jealous 
for the Lord God of hosts, and trembles for 
the land we live in, w T ill deeply mourn ; and 
by his example, by his protest, by his influ- 
ence, by his efforts, will do all that lieth in 
him to check the accumulation of national 
guilt in this matter; threatening, as that 
guilt does, to bring down judgments on the 
nation. Let us never forget that the Sab- 
bath is a token of the covenant of God 
with our country; it is a rainbow round 
about our throne, which when bright and 
clear, witnesses that God will not suffer us 
to be overwhelmed ; but which, when dim- 
med and defaced by desecration, betokens 
impending disaster to the community. 

But we may safely assure the man of 
business, that as surely as he enters into the 
spirit of the day, so surely shall he realize 
its blessings. The Lord " blessed" as well 
as " hallowed" the day: he not only set it 
apart for holy purposes, but annexed a 
special blessing to its observance. It is for 
our good. It is for our happiness. We love 
to view it in this light. Duty — authority — 
these are cold words to use in urging the 



1 }< J(J A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINE68. 

Christian to do what (Jod bids him, and en- 
joy what God promises him. Rather would 
we speak to him of grace — of privilege — of 
blessedness. "The Sabbath was made for 
man." It is the gift of love. It is the 
pledge of peace. It meets our wants ; it 
suits our frame. True, it is a yoke, but that 
yoke is easy; a restraint, but that restraint 
is " perfect freedom." Why did God sepa- 
rate one-seventh portion of human life from 
the pursuits of time? Why! but for the 
comfort, refreshment, and edification of man, 
in subservience to his own glory. Nor did 
" the High and Lofty One" think it beneath 
him, in like manner, to secure repose to the 
ox and the ass-; the beasts that toil in our 
service. Even with a view to the physical 
constitution of man, the law of the Sabbath 
is a law of love. One of our most distin- 
guished medical men, when examined by a 
committee of the House of Commons on the 
question of the Lord's day, gave it as his 
testimony, based on large experience, that 
the man who does not rest one day in seven 
will, ordinarily, wear out his energies before 
the time, and bring upon himself premature 
decrepitude and death. He added — and it 
was an interesting addition — that medical 
science had arrived at the conclusion, that 



HIS ZEAL FOR THE SABBATH. 297 

the very portion of time fixed upon by his 
Creator, is that which man needs for repose. 
Upon its being observed to him that some of 
the ministers of religion take no day of rest, 
he replied that they could not stand incessant 
effort ; and that, except they would secure 
an equivalent for the repose of the Sabbath, 
they must, sooner or later, fall victims to the 
unrelaxed strain on their energies. How 
benignly, therefore, has God made provision 
for the recruital of our physical nature ! But 
it is when we contemplate the ordinance in 
its bearing on the well-being of the human 
spirit, that it rises upon our view in all its 
benignity. It is peculiarly the friend of 
fallen man ; for if, amid the hallowed scenes 
of Eden, there was needed a day on which 
the sinless dressers of the garden should in- 
termit their gentle toil, how much more 
urgently must blighted, guilty man, amid 
the temptations, and cares, and pollutions, 
and distractions to which he is now subject- 
ed, stand in need of one day in seven to 
give him opportunity to find and follow the 
ways of restoration to God, and holiness, and 
heaven! The first days of his weeks are 
steps in the mystic ladder up which he may 
climb till he reach the land where the sun 
of the Sabbath shall never set, and the wor- 



298 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

ship of the Sabbath never close. Blot out 
that day — and you would well-nigh blot out 
the service of God from the face of the earth. 
Close all our sanctuaries — stop all our Sun- 
day schools — withdraw all the influences of 
the day of rest — and what would be the con- 
sequences? How would earth's ills be en- 
venomed — earth's woes embittered — earth's 
toils enhanced? To the Christian man of 
business the privation would be irreparable. 
His dearest reminiscences, his richest enjoy- 
ments, his brightest hopes, are all bound up 
with the Sabbath. How subservient is it to 
his soul's health! How conducive to his 
peace ! How his salt would lose its savor if 
it were not impregnated afresh by the influ- 
ence of the holy day ! 

Can we overrate the blessing of the ob- 
servance to those of the faithful who are un- 
avoidably harassed and strained from day 
to day by the overwrought machinery of 
modern trade ? To them how unspeakable 
the relief of having the moving power stop- 
ped, the whole mechanism of traffic suspend- 
ed, and being able to withdraw from the din 
and hurry, and distraction of the commercial 
world — exchanging them for the calm of the 
closet, the communion of the family, the 
avocations of mercy, and the soothing ser- 



HIS ZEAL FOR THE SABBATH. 299 

vices of the house of prayer ! The Sabbath 
is to such, as the green and watered oasis is 
to the worn and fevered traveler in the 
Arabian desert. The dew of the day abides 
upon their spirits. A Sabbath meetly sancti- 
fied, gives a tone to the days that follow. 
The week may be compared to a harp of 
seven strings : the first — the master cord — 
gives the key-note to the rest — let that be 
tuned by heaven, and the others will sound 
in consonance. You may forecast the char- 
acter of the week from the way in which 
you begin it — from the tone of your spirit 
on the day of God. If you have been happy 
and heavenly, then much of happiness and 
heavenliness will ordinarily pervade your 
occupations ; but if you were earthly and dis- 
tracted then, still more of earthliness and 
distraction will cleave to you when you re- 
sume the tasks of life. On the Sabbath the 
lamp must be replenished with oil ; on the 
Sabbath, the loins must be girt anew ; on 
the Sabbath, " we buy wine and milk, with- 
out money and without price," that we may 
be strengthened for our warfare and our 
journey! Blessed day! Symbol of grace, 
bond of fellowship, birthright of the poor, 
reflection of heaven, who would not love 
thee ? who would not seek to taste thy sweet- 



300 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

ness? Some, indeed, of our philosophizing 
Christians say disparagingly, that every day 
ought to be a Sabbath to the saint. And so 
it should be : but who is likeliest to sanctify 
every day ? Is it not he who most remem- 
bers the Sabbath day to keep it holy ? There 
are those who would bring down the hallow- 
ed day to the level of the days of labor, in- 
stead of striving to bring up the latter to the 
standard of the former — and to do so by 
making use of the former as a purchase for 
the purpose. He who knoweth our frame, 
knew w T hat we had need of, when he ordain- 
ed for us a day specially consecrated to the 
things that belong to our peace. 

Let it be remembered that if we love best 
the day which God has hallowed, that love 
is to us a pledge and prelibation of heaven. 
Once in the porch of a church, at the close 
of the Sunday evening service, the minister 
found an aged woman still lingering after all 
her fellow- worshipers were gone, who, on 
his asking her why she did not hasten home 
as the night was fast approaching, answered, 
with pathetic earnestness and simplicity, 
" O, sir ! I love to linger here : I was wish- 
ing that I never had to leave church, and 
that Sunday would last forever." "Hap- 
py are you," said he ; " for you will soon 



HIS ZEAL FOR THE SABBATH. 301 

have your wish fulfilled in the enjojaxient of 
a never-ending Sabbath, and of a temple 
from which the worshipers shall no more 
go out." The very God of grace and peace 
grant the reader to be like-minded with that 
simple saint ! 

Time would fail us to enlarge on the be- 
nign influence of a well-kept Sabbath on the 
community — on the nation at large. How 
it humanizes, how it harmonizes the people, 
bringing together the ranks of society, and 
soothing the asperities of secular intercourse. 
The different sections of our own country il- 
lustrate both the happy influences resulting 
from hallowing the Sabbath, and the evils 
of desecrating its holy time. See, also, 
how Scotland is distinguished for its observ- 
ance of the day of rest , and how high the 
state of its morality, and how sound and 
prosperous its social condition ! England, 
with all her faults, contrasts favorably in this 
respect with continental nations ; so that the 
strangers who flocked from all countries to the 
Great Exhibition, were specially struck with 
the reverence for the Sabbath which charac- 
terizes the inhabitants of this land. They 
were filled with astonishment when they 
learned that the stupendous structure was 
raised, and furnished, and finished, without 



302 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

the sound of a hammer having been heard, 
without a nail having been driven, on the 
holy day. Nor were they less astonished to 
find the doors of the Exhibition so strictly 
closed on the Sunday, that neither the peer, 
nor even the artist anxious to copy various 
objects in quietness, was suffered to enter on 
the Lord's day. Not by way of invidious 
comparison, but in thankfulness to God that 
there is yet so right a sentiment left among 
the people of our fatherland, we record these 
facts. Those who have traveled on the con- 
tinent well know, that there is nothing 
shocks more the American or British tourist 
— if worthy of the name — than the manner 
in which the day of God is there profaned. 
Changed into a carnival of amusement, it 
seems more Satan's " holiday" than Christ's 
holy day; the theaters wide open, the ball- 
rooms thronged, the bazaars all alive, the 
military review or the political banquet 
furnishing popular excitement; these are 
the features of a continental Sunday. Shame 
on the American or the British traveler w T ho 
yields to the current ! he disgraces alike his 
national and his religious connections. "We 
owe it to our Protestant principles and insti- 
tutions, that there is so much homage still 
paid among us to the blessed ordinance. The 



HIS ZEAL FOR THE SABBATH. 303 

Romish Sabbath is half formal, half carnal 
— a forenoon of idolatry, ending in an after- 
noon of frivolity. And no marvel, when 
the " holiday " of the Church is held to be 
paramount to the holy day of the Lord of the 
Church. Let us not, however, " be high- 
minded, but fear." Have we not had latter- 
ly fearful encroachments on the sanctity of 
the observance ? Are not our unclosed 
taverns, and our thinly- vailed haunts of riot 
and revelry, on his day, crying to God 
against us ? And are there not even now 
mighty efforts making to break down still 
more the fences of the day? If, therefore, 
we love our country, and the day which God 
has made so largely the channel of blessings 
to our country, we must hold fast the Pro- 
testant distinction of an unmutilated Sab- 
bath, as well as of au unadulterated Bible, 
and an unsensualized ritual. Let lost ground 
be recovered. Let all the haunts of drunk- 
enness and dissipation be closed on the holy 
day. Let the vagrant multitudes be won to 
the house of prayer. " Then God, even our 
own God, will give us his blessing." 

And now, to the younger readers of these 
pages who may be just launching on the sea of 
business, we would more particularly address 
the word of affectionate admonition. En- 



304 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

grave it as an axiom on your minds, that to 
hold fast the Sabbath is to hold fast a sheet- 
anchor; while to abandon its observance, is to 
drift from your moorings. And whither may 
not the unmoored bark be driven? From 
the very gallow r s hundreds have pointed to 
the first broken Sabbath — w 7 hen, for the first 
time, they turned their backs on the sanctu- 
ary and their faces toward the haunts of 
vanity — as the first open step down the de- 
clivity which has ended in the abyss of ruin. 
The sacred hours of God's holy day must be 
sacrificed neither to pleasure nor to business. 
To companions who would allure to this sin 
let the answer be — " We will not ;" and to 
employers who would command it, "We 
cannot do this wickedness and sin against 
God." "One is our Master." We must 
keep his charge, and leave consequences in 
his hands. Let those in like circumstances 
imitate that man, who, when young, was 
required by his employer to transact bu- 
siness on the Lord's day ; upon which he 
said — " I will come to your place of business 
at one o'clock on Monday morning, and 
work till twelve o'clock on Saturday night, 
but I cannot break the fourth command- 
ment ; if you insist upon my doing so, you 
must seek another servant, and I another 



HIS ZEAL FOR THE SABBATH. 305 

master." What was the consequence? He 
was dismissed, and to all appearance thrown 
out of bread. But what was the sequel? 
After having tried in vain to find a man less 
scrupulous — but no less punctual and trust- 
worthy — than the one whom he had cash- 
iered, his late employer sent for him again, 
raised his salary, and placed unlimited con- 
fidence in him. Since then that individual 
has thriven, and he now fills a public post of 
considerable importance and responsibility — 
thus furnishing one among the many exem- 
plifications that might be given, that God 
honors those who honor him by honoring 
his day. The only appropriate labor on Sun- 
days is the labor of love. As very many have 
little time to do aught expressly for God on 
other days, they ought to be all the more 
careful to do what they can on the sacred 
day to set forth his glory, and set forward 
his truth. "What a noble opportunity for 
doing good is presented by our Sunday 
schools ! There, in watering, we may be 
watered — in teaching, taught — in blessing, 
blessed. Let it be further remembered, that 
the work to which the Sabbath is sacred, is 
the one thing needful — salvation through 
Christ by the sprinkling of his blood, and 

the renewing of his Spirit. This is the 
20 



306 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

grand end of the Sabbath; this, the grand 
end of life. O that Christians would awake 
to the thrilling interest of the occasion, 
imprint the marks of holiness upon their 
holy days, that on their death-bed the 
ghosts of murdered Sabbaths may not haunt 
them with remorse, nor witness against them 
at the judgment seat ; but solace the one 
with sweet remembrances, and witness be- 
fore the other, that they received not the 
grace of God in vain. "So shall an entrance 
be ministered to us abundantly into the rest 
that remaineth to the people of God." 



HIS HOPE WHEN HE HAD DCXfrE ALLL. 307 



CHAPTER XIV. 

HIS HOPE WHEN HE HAD DONE ALL. 

The bird which soars the highest, builds the 
lowest nest. Who is there that loves the 
green fields in the vernal season, but must 
have watched with interest the joyous lark? 
Her nest is down in the grass, while her 
flight is up in the sky. Now she is hidden 
in the brightness of the sunbeams, and can be 
traced only by the gushing music she pours 
from on high — now she drops down again, 
fleet as the flight of an arrow, into her own 
secret home on the earth. How apt an 
emblem of him who is taught effectually by 
the Spirit of God! The more he is lifted 
up in communion with heaven, the deeper 
is his abasement in his own eyes. The 
more he is enriched with the treasures of 
grace, the more he abounds in the fruits of 
holiness — the more will he disclaim all merit 
of his own, and prostrate himself at the foot 
of the cross. You may have marked the 
ears of barley how they grow. When they 
first appear, and while their grain is light, 
they lift their heads toward the sky ; but as 



308 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

they fill with corn, they bend toward the 
dust ; and the heavier their freight, the 
nearer they stoop to the ground. Even so 
with "the children of the kingdom ;" the 
holiest are the humblest, those who bear 
most fruit have least " confidence in the 
flesh." It was so with the great apostle of 
the Gentiles. In his earliest stage of faith, 
he styled himself " not worthy to be called 
an apostle." In riper maturity of grace, he 
described himself as " less than the least of 
all saints." But when he had become such 
a one as Paul the aged, and was not a whit 
behind the very chiefest of the apostles — 
when he had " fought a good fight, and fin- 
ished his course, and kept the faith" — he 
spake of himself in yet lowlier style, saying 
— " Of sinners I am chief." Thus, as he 
ascended in holiness he descended in humil- 
ity; the more he was honored of God, the 
more he abased himself. 

Whenever we become acquainted with a 
person distinguished by other graces of the 
Spirit, we should be sorely disappointed, did 
we not find him adorned with this crown- 
ing virtue; a grace of which Augustine 
said, when he was asked, " What is the first 
thing in religion ?" — " humility." " What 
the second ? — " humility." " What the 



HIS HOPE WHEN HE HAD DONE ALL. 309 

third?" — " humility." A deep humiliation 
on account of the flesh is wholly consistent 
with joyful consciousness of the work of 
the Spirit, in the divine life. Not to recog- 
nize and acknowledge the Spirit's work in 
the soul which he is sanctifying, is to grieve 
the Holy Spirit of God whereby we are 
sealed unto the day of redemption ; and is 
only less blind than for the saint to arrogate 
to himself what he owes to the Comforter. 
In proportion to the progress of renewal, 
will be the progress of spiritual sensibility 
and discernment in the soul; ancl in pro- 
portion as these are matured will be the per- 
ception, as of the old man that still hinders 
and harasses the new man, so also of the 
new man which is winning the victory over 
the flesh. The same apostle that said, "This 
is a faithful saying, and worthy of all accep- 
tation, that Christ Jesus came into the world 
to save sinners, of whom I am chief;" said 
also, " Our rejoicing is this, the testimony of 
our conscience, that in simplicity and godly 
sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by 
the grace of God, we have had our conver- 
sation in the world, and more abundantly to 
youward." The two sentiments perfectly 
harmonized in his breast. He knew that in 
him (that is, in his flesh,) dwelt no good 



310 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

tiling ; and yet lie was equally assured, that 
by grace lie was what he was, and that the 
grace given to him had not been in vain. 

It would indeed imply a fatal flaw in the 
texture of a character — one which would 
mar the soundness and beauty of the whole 
— to be wanting in that fundamental grace 
— an humble, penitential reliance on the 
mercy of God. To delineate this distinctive 
trait of the righteous, in order that it may 
be coveted and copied, is the purpose of 
this chapter; and that will fitly finish the 
model which has been here presented for 
imitation. 

Pride is the parent sin in the universe — it 
kindled rebellion in heaven; pride is the 
parent sin in the world — it introduced diso- 
bedience into Paradise. Angels fell because 
they "kept not their first estate." Man fell 
because he desired to be " as God, knowing 
good and evil." Adam fell, and in him fell 
the human race. As man fell through pride, 
he must rise through humility. As he fell 
by seeking to be as a god, he must rise by 
learning that he is "a worm, and no man." 
As he lost his crown by being unwilling to 
wear it in dependency on his Creator, he re- 
gains it by becoming lowly enough to wel- 
come it as altogether the gift of sovereign 



HIS HOPE WHEN HE HAD DONE ALL. 311 

grace. One of the chief barriers between 
man and salvation is the pride of his heart 
— the fond conceit of his own goodness. 
However utterly apostate from God, how- 
ever sinning in everything he does, because 
in everything coming short of the glory of 
God — such is the blindness and infatuation 
of his heart, that he is still bent on saving 
himself; he would fain pass by the cross on 
the way to the crown. Almost invariably, 
whenever men begin to feel any anxiety 
about their future destiny — whether on a 
sick-bed, or in sorrow, or when disquieted 
by conscience — they set to work to be their 
own saviours. Each has his own scheme for 
making his peace with God — but whether 
by repentance, or by amendment, or by 
restitution — self is the hinge of all. Man 
must be driven off these foundations of sand ; 
hunted out of all his " refuges of lies ;" re- 
duced to a sense of helpless, hopeless, moral 
bankruptcy; convinced that he cannot so 
much as think a thought, conceive a motive, 
or do an act, acceptable to God, till he is in 
Christ, till he is justified freely through the 
merits of Christ, and quickened effectually 
by the spirit of Christ — before he can be 
constrained to fly for refuge to lay hold 
upon the hope — the only hope set before a 



312 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

sinner. Then, and not till then, will he 
stoop low enough to enter in at the strait 
gate, and become meek enough to travel the 
narrow way. The beginning of wisdom 
with him is, therefore, to awake to the 
consciousness that he is spiritually dead, 
and that the sentence of eternal death is re- 
corded against him. For apart from Christ 
— however beautiful his morality, however 
bright his honor, however unblemished his 
reputation — though he may be the idol of 
his circle, and though men may point him 
out as a pattern of mercantile probity ; — yet 
must he appear in the sight of God as an 
unreconciled rebel. The Pharisee who 
prayed, " God, I thank thee that I am not 
as other men are" (and whose professions 
are not denied) returned from the temple 
unforgiven ; while the publican, who, bowed 
down with a sense of his sin, durst not so 
much as lift up his eyes unto heaven, but 
smote on his breast, saying, "God be mer- 
ciful unto me a sinner," this man went 
down to his house justified rather than the 
other; "for every one that exalteth himself 
shall be abased, but he that humbleth him- 
self shall be exalted." Here is the key to 
acceptance with God. From the depth of 
despair breaks the dawn of hope. Despair 



HIS HOPE WHEN HE HAD DONE ALL. 313 

of self heralds hope in Jesus. The abandon- 
ment of our own righteousness, prepares us for 
the reception of "the Lord our righteous- 
ness." So long as the wrecked sinner trusts to 
rafts of his own construction, or clings to frag- 
ments of the wreck, he can find no rest nor 
safety ; but when loosing his hold of all beside, 
he grasps the cable stretched out to him by 
sovereign mercy; or, to change the figure, 
when he is "apprehended of Christ," and 
lifted into the life-boat — the ark of salvation 
— then he may look back on his peril with 
calmness, and round on the boisterous bil- 
lows with peace. One so rescued will never 
fail to own, " I did not make the ark myself 
— neither did I find it— neither did I enter 
it, of myself: Jesus provided it ; he brought 
it nigh to me ; he delivered me out of the 
deep waters. He laid hold upon me, as he 
did on Peter when sinking, and " put a new 
song in my mouth, even praise unto my 
God." " By the grace of God I am what I 
am." "I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth 
in me ; and the life I now live in the flesh, 
I live by the faith of the Son of God, who 
loved me, and gave himself for me." 

Be assured, that the more holy a man's 
spirit becomes, the more sensitive will it be- 
come ; and the more sensitive his spirit, the 



314 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

deeper and livelier will be his sense of sin- 
fulness. Shut up an individual in a dark 
apartment, hung round with cobwebs, and 
defiled with dust, and he will be insensible 
to its condition ; then admit a little light, 
and he will begin to suspect its state ; admit 
more and more, and the clearer the light, 
the more clearly will he discern the impuri- 
ties which were hidden before ; yea, though 
a process of purification may be going on 
the while, it will seem to him as if the room 
looked only the more repulsive: not that 
its defilements are undiminished, but that 
the light which reveals them is stronger. So 
when "God, who commanded the light to 
shine out of darkness, hath shined in the 
heart" of a sinner, the light imparted makes 
manifest to him at once the dark secrets of 
his history, and he discovers in his inner 
parts things never suspected before; and 
still, as "the shining light shines more and 
more," it will disclose to him trespasses 
more multitudinous, and recesses more 
black; yet not to drive him to despair, but 
to shut him up to Christ. Thus it was with 
Paul : he w T as " alive without the law once ;" 
conviction came, and all his fond hopes and 
confidences w T erc slain; but then, out of 
self-despair, sprang living hope. Dropping 



HIS HOPE WHEN HE HAD DONE ALL. 315 

his hold of the rope of sand, he clung 
to the sheet-anchor, "which entereth into 
that within the vail." Hearken to his own 
glowing words, " What things were gain to 
me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea 
doubtless, and I count all things but loss for 
the excellency of the knowledge of Christ 
Jesus, my Lord : for whom I have suffered 
the loss of all things, and do count them but 
dung that I may win Christ, and be found 
in him, not having mine own righteousness, 
which is of the law, but that which is through 
the faith of Christ, the righteousness which 
is of God by faith." Thus, when the spe- 
cious structure which he had raised with so 
much toil and regarded with so much com- 
placency, was smitten by the hammer of 
the law, and shivered into atoms, it was 
that he might be driven to hide and dwell 
beneath the shadow of the great rock in the 
weary land. 

The world cannot understand the paradox 
— that the saint should loathe and condemn 
himself, as the sinner never loathes and con- 
demns himself. They suspect that he must 
be either a fanatic or a deceiver. They 
know not how the stars of nature's night 
fade away before the revelation of the Sun 
of Righteousness. Until sanctified wholly, 



316 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

the more we discern liis purity, the more 
must we discern our own impurity ; the more 
we behold his majesty, the more must 
we perceive our vileness. See how it was 
with the patriarch Job : chafed by contra- 
diction, shattered by calamities, and writh- 
ing under a weight of unjust accusation, he 
for a season spake unadvisedly with his 
lips ; but mark the effect of the display of 
the power and greatness of God upon his 
mind. He said, " Behold, I am vile ; what 
shall I answer thee ? I will lay my hand 
upon my mouth. I have heard of thee by 
the hearing of the ear ; but now mine eye 
seeth thee : wherefore I abhor myself, and 
repent in dust and ashes." Yet J ob was not 
less holy when he thus spake, than when he 
affirmed his blamelessness, and contended 
against every charge alleged against him ? 
Rather, he was more thoroughly refined in 
the furnace. The depth of his humility was 
the gauge of his grace : and the more he 
abhorred himself in the presence of God, 
the more God delighted in his servant. For 
" to this man will I look, saith the Lord, 
even to him that is poor and of a contrite 
spirit, and trembleth at my word." The 
lowliest soul is the dearest to God. The man 
who has most absolutely abandoned all but 






HIS HOPE WHEN HE HAD DONE ALL, 317 

Christ, is the wisest, the safest, and the hap- 
piest of men. He is nearest to the spirit of 
heaven, where the palm and the crown are 
cast before the throne of the Lamb, and the 
song of the ransomed which ceaselessly 
sounds is, " Thou wast slain, and hast re- 
deemed us by thy blood to God, and hast 
made us unto our God kings and priests." 
These are they " that have washed their 
robes, and made them white in the blood of 
the Lamb." No less overpowering was the 
effect of the vision of the Almighty on the 
spirit of Isaiah the prophet, when he " saw 
the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and 
lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 
Above it stood the seraphim ;— and one 
cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, 
holy, is the Lord of hosts : the whole earth 
is full of his glory. And the posts of the 
door moved at the voice of him that cried, 
and the house was filled with smoke." Then 
said the prophet, " Woe is me ! for I am un- 
done ; because I am a man of unclean lips, 
and I dwell in the midst of a people of un- 
clean lips: for mine eyes have seen the 
King, the Lord of hosts." Thus was he 
driven to despair by the terribleness of the 
majesty of the God of heaven. But he was 
laid low that he might be exalted. " Then 



318 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

flew one of the seraphim unto him, having 
in his hand a live coal taken from off the 
altar, which he had taken with the emhleni 

of the atoning sacrifice, that cleanseth from 
sin : and he laid it upon his mouth, and said, 
Lo ! this hath touched thy lips, and thine 
iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged." 
Thus strengthened — filled at once with hu- 
mility and confidence — no sooner did he 
hear the voice of the Lord saying, " "Whom 
shall I send ? and who will go for us ?" then 
he said, "Here am I, send me." He was 
now ready for reproach — or danger — or 
death, in fulfilling the commission of God. 

In like manner, when Jesus gave Peter a 
glimpse of his divine glory in the miracu- 
lous draught of fishes at the sea of Galilee, 
the apostle, overwhelmed with the con- 
sciousness of his guilt as seen in that light, 
fell at Jesus' knees and said, " Depart from 
'me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." 
The effulgence which flashed upon him, laid 
open to him the dark recesses of his heart, 
as the gleam of lightning discovers the 
depths of the forest. How interesting and 
instructive thus to trace the uniformity of 
effect produced by the self-knowledge which 
springs from the knowledge of God! As it 
was with the holy men of old, so has it been 



HIS HOPE WHEN HE HAD DONE ALL. 319 

with the holiest and best in after times. 
The most eminent of them — "the noble 
army of martyrs" — have been the most dis- 
tinguished for their lowliness. "There," 
used the martyr Bradford to say, when he 
saw a criminal led to the scaffold, " there, but 
for the grace of God, goes John Bradford." 
All that is holy in the believer is of the 
Spirit ; all that is corrupt in him is of the 
flesh. Hence it is, that last as well as first 
he glories in Christ Jesus, and has no confi- 
dence in the flesh ; hence it is, that he looks 
for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, even un- 
to eternal life ; hence it is, that when he plants 
his footsteps on the threshold of heaven, he 
clings the most absolutely to the mercy of 
God in Christ, Yes, it is then that all who 
are taught of God arrive at one point. We 
have heard of the death-bed scenes of many 
of the righteous, and with thrilling interest 
have considered their experience in that 
most solemn and most searching hour ; and 
we have found that all, whether babes or 
fathers in Christ, have alike hung only on 
the hope of the cross ; while the holiest have 
ever been the humblest in that last struggle. 
The language of that beautiful hymn, in 
which confidence and humility are so ad- 
mirably united, best expresses the one sen- 



320 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

timent of their hearts as it throbs, and 
flutters, and ceases to beat : — 

" In my hand no price I bring, 
Simply to thy cross I cling/' 

Yes, however aforetime some of them may 
have been tempted to look upon themselves 
with complacency, or to attach importance 
to their doings or their observances, in that 
decisive moment, all vanishes from their 
view but the saving grace of their Saviour. 
Neither privileges, nor sacraments, nor ob- 
lations, nor praise of men, nor ecclesiasti- 
cal distinctions, nor arm of priest or pastor, 
shares their reliance; but "Christ is all* 
and in all." Every other anchor drags, 
every other cable snaps, before the pressure 
of the tide that sweeps the soul into eternity. 
One, and only one hope retains its imperish- 
able moorings — it is the hope set before us 
in Jesus. This can enable the expiring 
saint to exclaim, " O death, where is thy 
sting ? O grave, where is thy victory ? 
Thanks be to God, which giveth us the vic- 
tory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 

Let us then hear the conclusion of the 
whole matter. The Christian should abound 
in all good works ; he should be fruitful in 
everything that adorns the doctrine of God 
his Saviour ; an ensample of them that be- 



HIS HOPE WHEN PIE HAD DONE ALL. 321 

lieve; doing to others as lie would that 
others should do unto him. He must con- 
fess his Master's name, and be jealous of his 
honor ; and yet after all, and when he has 
done all, he abandons all as supplying the 
slightest foundation of confidence ; and with 
the apostle still protests, " God forbid that I 
should glory save in the cross of Jesus Christ." 
He begins with mercy, continues in mercy, 
and closes w r ith mercy. To pride ourselves 
in our w T orks is to mar all. The fly is intro- 
duced into the ointment which will make it 
unsavory. 

We have thus set before the reader a 
rough outline of a character to be copied, 
one every way worthy of his study and imi- 
tation. It is not the character of a divine or 
a recluse ; but of one whose occupation is in 
the midst of the w r orld, of one w T ho has to 
encounter difficulties, overcome temptations, 
sustain cares and endure trials, such as are 
common to men engaged in the active du- 
ties of life. Let it be his ambition to real- 
ize that character in himself. Let Christian 
men of business know their calls to shine as 
lights in their several spheres in the great 
mercantile world. It is theirs to irradiate 
with holiness each one his own peculiar 
scene of action, whether it be the counting- 
21 



322 A MODEL FOR MEN OF BUSINESS. 

house or the manufactory, the work- shop 
or the ware-house. To them the Church 
must look to furnish to the world a living 
demonstration that faith establishes the law ; 
that they who repudiate all confidence in 
works are the most careful to maintain 
them. Thus shall they compel those who 
denounce the principles of professed Chris- 
tians to admire their practice, and "with 
w T ell doing put to silence the ignorance of 
foolish men." The truly evangelical work 
as though all depended on their working, 
and yet they trust as knowing that all de- 
pends on the aids of divine grace. As his 
first prayer w r as "God be merciful to me a 
sinner, so will the spirit of his last prayer be 
the same. At the cross he begins and at the 
cross he closes his race. In his utmost at- 
tainments his sole confidence is still, that 
great as may be his sins, the mercies and 
merits of Christ are infinitely greater ; and 
crimson as may be his guilt, his blood 
washes it white as snow. "Let not the wise 
man glory in his wisdom, neither let the 
mighty man glory in his might ; let not the 
rich man glory in his riches; but he that 
glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." 

THE END. 



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Wythes on the Pastoral Office. 

Ax Essay ox the Pastoral Office, as exemplified in the 

Economy of the Methodist Episcopal Church. By Rev. 

Joseph H. Wythes, M, D., of the Philadelphia Conference. 

18mo., pp. 1C9. Muslin SO SO 

Two principles have been kept steadily in view during the prog- 
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Bible in Many Tong%ies. 



The Bible ix Many Toxgues. Revised by Daniel P. Kidder. 

18mo., pp. 216. Muslin SO 24 

A biography, so to speak, of the Bible; and a history of its trans- 
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brief, a large amount of religious and historical information. It 
is divided into four chapters, treating respectively of the biog- 
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Bible in the ancient East and at Rome — the Bible at the Refor- 
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Village Science, 

Village Sciexce : or, the Laws of Nature explained. By 
the Author of " Peeps at Nature," &c. 

18mo., pp. £85. Muslin $0 28 

Contents. 1. Atoms and Elements: or, Nature's Materials. 
2. Labours and Sports: or, the Laws of Motion. 3. A Visit to 
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or, the Principle of Compensation. 6. The Light-house Lan- 
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10. Sparks and Flames : or, Nature's Electricity. 11. Dead 
Leaves: or, Nature's Economy, 12. Enough and to spare: or, 
Nature's Abundance. 

The Lamp and the Lantern. 

The Lamp axd the I/axterx : or, Light for the Tent and 
the Traveller, By James Hamiltox, I). 1). 

18mo ., pp. 202. Muslin SO ?3 

A scries of eloquent lectures and essays, mostly hortatory, in Dr. 
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The Right Way : or, Practical Lectures on the Decalogue. 
Bj J. T. Crake, A.M. 

12mo., pp. 277. Muslin $0 65 

True religion does not consist in emotions and feelings, though it 
necessarily produces them. It consists in knowing the will of 
God, and doing it fully and sincerely. The will of God can only 
be known by his revealed law. We hope this little book will 
find a place in every Christian's library. — Christian Advocate, 
and Journal. 

The best hortatory exposition of the Decalogue extant among us. 
We earnestly hope that it will be widely read by our ministers 
and people. — Methodist Quarterly Review. 

Bledsoe's Theodicy. 

A Theodicy : or, Vindication of the Divine Glory, as 
manifested in the Constitution and Government of the 
Moral World. By Albert Tayxor Bledsoe, Professor of 
Mathematics in the University of Mississippi. 

8vo. , pp. 365. Price, half morocco $1 50 

Gentle reader, whatever be the school of theology to which you 
belong, we earnestly advise you to read this book carefully. It 
will leave its mark, for it presents the most difficult subjects in 
theology in the clear light of Scripture, reason, and common- 
sense. — Christian Advocate and Journal. 

Whoever reads it with attention and with candour will arise from 
his task with heightened views of the administration of God. — 
Southern Methodist Quarterly. 

The author reviews with great discrimination the theories of 
ancient and modern authors upon this subject, and argues with 
force and ability the different positions assumed. This book 
will certainly make a mark in the department of literature 
to which it belongs, and will undoubtedly shed light upon 
this subject, which, of all others, has been hitherto "a dark 
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The Converted Infidel. 

Life and Experience of a Converted Infidel. By John 
Scarlet, of the New- Jersey Conference. 

18mo., pp. 274. Price 30 40 

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8vo., pp. 224. Muslin $0 60 

The hymns in this work are mostly from our own Hymn Book ; 
the tunes are plain and familiar airs. It is characterized by 
good judgment and excellent taste in its selections, and will be 
popular. — Zion's Herald. 

A most excellent aid to family devotion. We recognize many 
of the good old tunes and hymns, and some new ones. The 
music is conveniently arranged for the melodeon, seraphine, 
piano, and organ; and an index of subjects at the end will ena- 
ble the leader of the devotions at once to select suitable hymns. 
Let Christians sing at the family altar; the little ones will thus 
learn the songs of Zion, and the great congregations will become 
one grand choir, verifying the demand of the Holy Oracles : 
"Let the people praise thee; let all the people praise thee." — 
National Magazine. 

Both in its matter and its form, we think, this work meets pre- 
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will cause many a family altar, heretofore silent, to become 
vocal with the praise of God "in Psalms and hymns." — Method- 
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Switzerland. 

Switzerland ; Historical and Descriptive. 

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Part I. Historical: The Dim Distance — Seeds of Nationality — 
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Descriptive : Nature — Art — Society. 

Successful Men. 

Successful Men of Modern Times. 
Edition. 

18mo., pp. 208. Muslin 

Contents. A few Words about Success in general 



From the London 



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•Successful 
Merchants, Tradesmen, and Manufacturers — Successful Engi- 
neers and Inventors — Successful Artists, Painters, and Sculptors 
— Successful Poets, Scholars, and Men of Science — Successful 
Public Men — Successful Warriors and Philanthropists — Habits 
of Reading and Observation, as the Means of Social Elevation. 
The work is calculated to do good as a stimulant to exertion in 
the right direction, and with right ends in view. We trust it 
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t- 



WORKS PUBLISHED BY CARLTON & PHILLIPS, 
200 Mulberry-street, New- York. 



Friendships of the Bible. 



The Friendships of the Bible. By Amicus. Embellished 
with Engravings. 

12mo., pp. 140. Muslin SO 55 

The subjects of this attractive volume are, David and Jonathan; 
Abraham and Eliczer; El Una and the Shunammite; Paul, 
Joseph, and Ruth; Fortuitous Acts of Friendship; Rulers; 
Bethany ; Jesus and John. 

Memoir of Iticharcl Williams. 

Memoir of Richard "Williams, Surgeon : Catechist to the 
Patagonian Missionary Society in Terra del Fuego. By 
James Hamilton, D. D: 

16mo., pp. 270. Muslin $0 30 

This is really one of the most profoundly interesting and sug- 
gestive narratives we have ever read. — St. Louis Presbyterian. 

In the way of a touching narrative of Christian faith, persevering 
and increasing even to the end, this work has few equals. — 
Newark Daily Advertiser. 

Young says: "That life is long which answers life's great end. 1 ' 
If this be true, the brief life of Richard Williams was longer 
than that of many who attain to three-score years and ten. 
He has illustrated, in a remarkable manner, the strength of 
love and the power of faith. While enduring the most severe 
Buffering, with the prospect of a lingering and dreadful death 
before him, his soul rested in perfect tranquillity upon God as 
upon a rock, sheltering itself trustingly under the wing of 
Almighty Love, and joying even in being permitted to suffer 
for Christ's sake. Thus doe^ God compensate his children who 
deny themselves from love to him, by inward peace and happi- 
ness, of which only those who make such sacrifices can have 
any conception. 

Greek and Eastern Churches. 

The Greek and Eastern Churches: their History, Faith 
and Worship. 

18mo., pp. 220. Muslin SO 24 

Contexts. Origin of the Greek Church— Its Progress and Pres- 
ent State— Tenets and Ceremonies of the Greek Church — 
Worthies of the Greek Church — Heretics and Sectaries of the 
Greek Church— Relations of Protestantism to the Greek Church. 

A very timely book, giving, in a brief but clear form, an account 
of the history, faith, and worship of the Greek and Russian 
Churches. It will be seen from this book how Utile would be 
gained to Christianity by ttl3 triumph of Czar Nicholas in the 
war he is now so unrighteously waging. 



WORKS PUBLISHED BY CARLTON & PHILLIPS, 

200 Mulberry-street, New-York. 



Memoir of Rev. S. B. Bangs. 

The Young- Minister : or, Memoirs and Remains of Stephen 
Beekman Bangs, of the New-York East Conference. By 
W. H. N. Magbuder, M. A. With a Portrait. 

12mo., pp. 388. Muslin . • SO 70 

There are some classes who may derive peculiar profit from a study 
of this book. Young ministers of the gospel may deduce from it 
the elements of a happy and prosperous professional career. 
Students may be led to inquire closely into their duty, and 
may be prepared conscientiously to decide whether or not God 
is calling them to the responsible work of the Christian minis- 
try. Parents may see the effect of a careful and rigid and truly 
kind training of their children. And finally, all may be stimu- 
lated to a holy life by the energetic and eloquent discourses that 
follow. — Rev. E. O. Haven. 

Histo?y of the Inquisition. 

The Brand of Dominic : or, Inquisition at Rome " Supreme 
and Universal." By Rev. William H. Rule. With five 
Engravings. 

12mo., pp. 392. Muslin $0 75 

This small volume should be in the hands of every one who 
takes an interest in the Papal question. — Church of England 
Quarterly Review. 

We cannot know too much of that horrible and Satanic insti- 
tution, of which this valuable little work treats, and treats so 
ably. — Evangelical Christendom. 

Lives of the Popes. 

The Lives of the Popes. From A. D. 100 to A. D. 1853. 
From the London Edition. 

12nio., pp. 566. Muslin $0 80 

We take pleasure in placing the work before American readers in 
a more convenient form than that of its first publication, and 
trust that it will be extensively perused by young and old 
throughout our land. No nation ought to be better acquainted 
than ours with the history of the Popes, and the system of reli- 
gion of which they are acknowledged heads ; for none has more 
to fear from the movements of Romanists. 

There is no work extant, to our knowledge, that covers the same 
ground. It gives in compendious form the history of the 
Papacy from its very beginning down to the pontificate of 
Pins IX.— a kind of information which the American people 
stand much in need of just now.— Methodist Quarterly Review. 

The work is well adapted to popular reading, and supplies a previ- 
ous lack in the current literature of the age.— Christian Wit- 



BOOKS PUBLISHED BY CARLTON & PHILLIPS, 

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I. 

THE YOUNG LADY'S COUNSELOR: or, Outlines and 
Illustrations of the Sphere, the Dutifs, and the Dangers 
ok Young Women. By Rev. Daniel Wise. Muslin, 55 cents. 
Gilt edges, 75 cents. Silk, $1 00. 
This book contains eleven chapters, bearing the following titles: — 
1. u The Mistake of a Lifetime; 11 2. "The Fountain of Life Unsealed;" 
3. " Influence ;" 4. "The True Sphere of "Woman;" 5. "Loveliness of 
Spirit;" G. "Self-reliance;" 7. "The Secret Springs of Self-reliance;" 
S. "Of Self-culture;" 9. "The Young Lady at Home;" 10. "The 
Young Lady from Home;" 11. "Courtship and Marriage." These 
topics, all of which are of the highest importance to the persons ad- 
dressed, are discussed in the author's very best style. The English 
tongue can furnish no better language than is found here.— Corre- 
sjyondent of Herald and Journal. 

II. 

THE YOUNG- MAN'S COUNSELOR: or, Sketches and 
Illustrations of the Duties and Dangers of Young Men. 
Designed to be a guide to success in this life, and to happiness in 
the life which is to come. By Rev. Daniel Wis?:. 
Muslin, 55 cents. Gilt edges, 75 cents. 

III. 
THE PATH OF LIFE : or, Sketches of the Way to Glory 

and Immortality. By Rev. Daniel Wise. Muslin, 50 cents. 

Gilt edges, 75 cents. Silk, $1 00. 
I have read this work with lively interest and profit I know of no 
work in the English language so well calculated to assist and estab- 
lish young converts. — Rev. %T. Ca uglier/ . 

IV. 
BRIDAL GREETINGS. A marriage gift, in which the mutual 
duties of husband and wife are familiarly illustrated and enforced. 
By Rev. Daniel Wise. Fifth edition. Muslin, gilt edges, 30 cents. 
Silk, 45 cents. 

V. 
CHRISTIAN LOVE. By Rev. Daniel Wise. Muslin, gilt 
edges, 25 cents. 

VI. 
PERSONAL EFFORT. By Rev. Daniel Wise. Muslin, gilt 
edges, 20 cents. 

VII. 
AUNT EFFIE : or. the Pious Widow and her Infidel Brother 
By Rev. Daniel Wise. Muslin, gilt edges, 30 cents. 

VIII. 

GUIDE TO THE SAVIOUR : or, the Lambs of the Flock 
led to their Great Sheimi Kui). By Rev. Daniel Wise. Muslin, 
gilt edges, 25 cents. 



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